


Our Singularity

by zeerogue



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Aliens, Baekchen - Freeform, ChanHun, Chenbaek - Freeform, M/M, MIB AU, SeYeol, TaoXing - Freeform, Xiuris - Freeform, kailu - Freeform, krismin, kyungmyeon, kyungmyun, laytao - Freeform, lukai - Freeform, sudo - Freeform, taolay - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-08-20 12:49:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 85,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8249707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeerogue/pseuds/zeerogue
Summary: Zhang Yixing had lived a peaceful life since moving from China to South Korea at a very young age growing into one of the most respectable young doctors in Seoul. Sure his crush since internship was in a long term relationship, his roommate was all over his new boyfriend, and the guy he occasionally blew had finally settled down with someone else, but Yixing was successful and everyone he loved was loved. Yixing didn't need a love life. he also didn't need to get his briefcase accidentally taken by one of the best Alien Hunters in North East Asia.





	1. I'm Drunk

**Our Singularity**

 

**1\. I’m Drunk**

 

    The sound of the paramedics coming in still brought fear to Yixing, but you didn't succeed at being a doctor without a morbid excitement for emergencies. It had been a car accident. It was always a car accident. Yixing rarely took a car himself through town. For however safe South Korea was where crime was concerned, the obedience of traffic laws left much to be desired. But, it was work, and with the familiarity of the situation, Yixing could work faster and with better outcomes. He quickly took in the state of the bodies pulled into the hospital on stretchers. Only three adults, two sedated and one yelling about a broken leg, came in along with one of the paramedics holding onto a crying toddler. Yixing hurried to the child first.

 

“Why isn't the child on a stretcher, Baekhyun?” Yixing asked starting to look over the toddler as he cried silently mumbling about his mother.

 

“He just has a few scratches. The mother threw him aside when the car came,” the paramedic replied.

 

Yixing moved away. “Take him to Minseok. He just finished helping out with a delivery so he can watch him and look over him for any other injuries. His specialty is children and women after all. I've got to look over the mother.”

 

Baekhyun, the paramedic, nodded and hurried to a nurse to page the other doctor. Yixing turned and went to the yelling man first.

 

“Sir, I need you to calm down for a minute so I can look over your leg,” Yixing said.

 

“It's fucking broken, what do you need to look over? I'll sue her and I'll sue you if you don't fix it,” the man said. “I've lost 300,000 won today because that woman jumped out in front of my car.”

 

“He's a taxi driver,” explained one of the nurses helping to get the driver hooked up to the IV. “Dr. Kim is looking over his passenger. He got thrown out of the car.”

 

“And what about the mother?” Yixing asked.

 

“We don't know yet, this man was making such a commotion,” the nurse said.

 

Yixing sighed and moved his hands to the man's leg. He pressed hard and the man made a face. “It's not broken. Do an x-ray just in case and have a resident mend him and look over any other possible injuries. I need to check on the mother.”

 

“Yes Dr. Zhang,” the nurse said.

 

“Zhang? Fucking Chinese doctor, no wonder he's just going to leave me,” the taxi driver complained.

 

Yixing only sighed and turned to see about the mother. He pulled out a light and checked her eyes. “How is she?”

 

“Stable, just unconscious,” said one of the nurses looking over her. “Her hip might be broken, but it doesn't look like the driver hit her too hard. She must have hit her head from the force of the fall.”

 

“I don't see any other damage from the outside and her vitals seem fine. Have her scanned for any internal damage and check her head. Call Dr. Jung if the head scans come up with anything major. She doesn't have any surgeries today and was complaining about being bored. Her son is with Minseok over in the children's' clinic.”

 

“Understood,” the nurses said.

 

Yixing finally turned to the third patient. Kim Junmyeon, the other general surgeon working in the ER, had his hands deep in blood, eyes darting around with a frantic calmness that Yixing admired as he took in the vitals displaying on the screens that had been hooked up to the patient. Yixing walked over to him.

 

“How can I help?” Yixing inquired.

 

“Did you check on the other patients?” Junmyeon asked.

 

“They're being taken care of. The woman needs a scan before I can do anything else to her,” Yixing said.

 

“Then hold this.” Junmyeon handed Yixing a breathing apparatus. “He had a candy in his mouth and it got lodged in his windpipe, but all the jostling around to get him here made it to where he couldn't breath. Plus, he had a shard of glass lodged into his lung, so guess what you get to do.”

 

“Lung surgery?” Yixing asked looking at the blood seeping through a bandage on the passenger's chest.

 

“Your favorite, Zhang.”

 

Yixing often thought he should have focused on one area of surgery to work in, but being able to do a bit of everything seemed more helpful in the long run. He could have taken a few more years and even gotten specialized in more than one area if he had wanted, but Yixing had wanted to be a doctor quickly. They had long working hours that took up most of their time and got paid more than most other occupations, and, occasionally, they saved lives. He had gotten through the book work faster than most, even faster than Kim Junmyeon who had been top of his class. He still wasn't the highest ranking doctor in this Seoul hospital, but he was well respected for someone who hadn't even reached the age of thirty without the fancy schooling most of the doctors here had.

 

But, it was tiring.

 

Yixing walked out into the warm late summer air and sighed. The surgery on the passenger had gone fine and the mother had woken up and gotten to see her son. The taxi driver was still cursing everyone out, but the police had finally come to talk with him. Yixing didn't like dealing with the police. He wasn't Korean and he found the older officers tended to ignore him when they found out his name. What was a Chinese doctor doing in Seoul after all? It wasn't like Yixing hadn't grown up here. Junmyeon was from a rich family and could deal with police easier. Yixing sat on the concrete on one of the more deserted sides of the hospital. His body felt weak. He took in a deep breath and felt the ominous tickle in the back of his throat. He took a few more breaths, but they all came out short. Yixing dug around in his white coat pockets frantically before pulling out an inhaler and took long draws of it until he felt his head lighten up. He pulled his knees up to his chest and laid his head down on them. Any minute now.

 

A hand suddenly landed on Yixing shoulder and he jumped, retching from the surprise.

 

“Oh, sorry, I didn't know you'd just used your inhaler.”

 

Yixing sighed and uncurled himself. He pressed a hand to his stomach and tried not to breath too much. He turned his head to look at the offender, but could only smile a grimace. “It's alright, Junmyeon.”

 

Kim Junmyeon took a seat on the concrete beside Yixing. “I was going to tell you congratulations on the surgery.”

 

Yixing shrugged. “It wasn't too difficult. I don't usually get to do major surgery, though. Clean cuts, and he was still fairly strong for forty. But, he should really stop smoking.”

 

“Shouldn't they all?” Junmyeon agreed. “But, you should change your medicine in that inhaler. I know it makes you ill.”

 

Yixing looked down at the inhaler and pocketed it. “There isn't another medicine. Besides, it only lasts fifteen minutes.”

 

“Yes, but how many times a day do you use that inhaler?” Junmyeon asked.

 

“Usually once,” Yixing answered. Sometimes he could go a whole week. Other times, every three hours. “It depends on how stressed and how much air I've gotten that day.”

 

Junmyeon shook his head. “I don't like it, but I'm not the best when it comes to respiratory medicine.”

 

Yixing looked up at the dark sky. There were stars, but he could barely see them with all the light pollution there was in Seoul. There were hands on him again, this time Yixing registered them and slumped down so Junmyeon could hold him easier. He had known Junmyeon since he had come to this hospital only a year after Yixing himself. Junmyeon liked skinship and so did Yixing. Junmyeon placed a hand on Yixing's head and pulled it down against his shoulder. Laying against Junmyeon did make Yixing feel better. He was thankful the other came out after him.

 

He didn't like that Junmyeon had pulled out his phone, though.

 

“Kyungsoo said he made kimchi spaghetti tonight and I can pick some up. Do you want any?” Junmyeon asked.

 

Yixing peeked at the phone then pulled his head away from Junmyeon's shoulder. “Nah, I don't eat much so I'll be fine. You go see your boyfriend and eat there. I'll cover for you.”

 

Junmyeon smiled at Yixing. “Thanks, you spoil me so much when it comes to Kyungsoo.”

 

“Well, your boyfriend is a businessman and you're a doctor. You rarely get time to see each other,” Yixing said, a smile cracking on his own face. He liked when people smiled. He liked when people he liked smiled. “I just want you to be happy.”

 

Junmyeon laughed and squeezed Yixing closer. “You're honestly perfect for a doctor, Yixing. You know exactly how to make people feel good.”

 

That was Yixing, making other people feel good.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

Yixing stuffed his dirty scrubs in his locker with the other six pairs. He still had tomorrow to work and then he could do laundry as long as he wasn't called in. He'd run out of clothes before, but he hadn't stooped to wearing stinky scrubs since his residency started. He would just have to buy new ones. Yixing closed his locker and headed out as the next shift of doctors filtered in. He had barely made it to the first floor when he felt an arm wrapping around his shoulder and pulling him down to their height.

 

“Hey Dr. Save the Day, let's go get pizza,” Baekhyun, the paramedic, said clinging onto Yixing.

 

Yixing slouched as he walked. He wasn't much taller than Baekhyun or Junmyeon, but he found it easier to adjust himself to other people's heights. “I didn't save anyone's day.”

 

“Sure, a shard of glass through the lung isn't fatal, whatever. You still deserve a good meal,” Baekhyun argued.

 

“I'm not hungry and it's two in the morning.”

 

“Two thirty,” Baekhyun corrected, “and I know you didn't eat because you only eat if you can eat with Kim Junmyeon.”

 

“I had a granola bar after the surgery.”

 

“And Kim Junmyeon had his lover. Those two things aren't equal in the least. Besides, I'm paying and I want to drink as well,” Baekhyun insisted.

 

Every muscle in Yixing's body ached with tiredness. He hadn't gotten much sleep that week since he always opted for the crazy work hours on the schedule and he hadn't had a real vacation in three years. But Yixing didn't have to be back until the late afternoon. He could be over a hangover by lunch time. He grabbed his briefcase from his locker and shut the door. “Chen's?”

 

Baekhyun grinned. “Chen's.”

 

The only pizzeria ever opened this late at night was Kim Jongdae's known by most people as Chen's. It was only a few blocks away from the hospital so it saw many hospital visitors and staff throughout the day and late at night when Jongdae, the owner, opened the bar. They served more Western style pizzas than the usual Korean pizza Yixing had grown up on, which was probably why they were cheaper and more addicting, but the alcohol was well stocked with native favorites. Jongdae always knocked off a bit from Yixing's order particularly when Baekhyun joined him.

 

Chen's was emptier than usual as was the hospital as they prepared for the winter strew of flu and colds. Yixing followed Baekhyun to the bar where a squared jawed man slid up and threw a hand towel over one of his shoulders making him look broader than he was. He smiled at them with curled lips, eyes staying on Baekhyun longer.

 

“What can I get you?” Jongdae asked.

 

“The usual,” Baekhyun replied sliding closer to the bar shaking his head playfully at the owner.

 

“Drunk usual or hungry usual?” Jongdae asked.

 

Baekhyun glanced over at Yixing then glanced back at Jongdae looking him up and down with a heated gaze. “Drunk usual.”

 

Jongdae laughed. “One large cheese pizza and a whole lot of soju coming right up. I've got two bottles here to start you guys out on.”

 

The owner slid them two cool drinks and shot glasses before disappearing to the kitchen to prepare their food. Yixing took his bottle and unscrewed it before pouring himself a glass. “Are you going home with him tonight?”

 

The paramedic turned away from watching the owner through the little window that looked into the kitchen. “Hmm? Oh, am I gonna ride that? Probably.”

 

“Why don't you two date for real?” Yixing asked. Baekhyun always begged Yixing to come with him to Chen's when he was planning to sleep with the owner. They'd been doing this for three years ever since Kim Jongdae bought the old bar. He probably hoped Yixing would talk him out of it, but Jongdae seemed like a good guy.

 

“Nah, it'd be weird. He doesn't remember we hooked up in college,” Baekhyun said. “Besides, I want to keep my options opened.”

 

Yixing frowned and threw back his glass of soju. College was a time to do stuff you'd forget. Like letting a girl sit on your face only for her menstrual cycle to come early. Or having a girlfriend with the worst gag reflex ever. Yixing's hand tightened on the little glass and his hands shook as he tried to pour himself another. The memories of Yixing's only long term girlfriend and only real relationship were those he tried his hardest to forget. He had terrible luck when it came to anything sexual. That's why, being closer to thirty, he'd only ever experience oral sex.

 

“You have too many options, Baekhyun,” Yixing said.

 

Baekhyun raised a glass to Yixing, smile like a beam of light that attracted all sorts of little insects. Sometimes they got zapped, but sometimes an actual beast would come along like the forgetful Jongdae. “That I do.”

 

A few minutes later, Jongdae came out with another two bottles of soju and a dazzling large cheese pizza that filled the whole pizzeria with aromas that made Yixing’s stomach grumble. He couldn't remember whether he'd eaten anything other that the granola bar since this time last night. Baekhyun started to dish out a slice and Yixing tried not to drool while he watched the cheese pull seductively from the other slices.

 

“You have choices, too,” Baekhyun said.

 

Yixing frowned at his pizza. “Really? Who?”

 

Baekhyun picked up his own slice and twirled some of the stringy cheese around the end of his pizza triangle. “Well, uh, not Kim Junmyeon, that's for sure. He's basically married.”

 

Yixing poured himself another glass of soju and popped it back. The liquid was starting to burn. “No, no, not Junmyeon.”

 

“Right, well, there's Lu Han. He's basically a thirty year old virgin. He has got to be ready to explode, right?”

 

Yixing frowned. His roommate didn't look a day older than when Yixing had first met him even though he was older by a year. “He's not that old yet and I would never think about dating Lu Han.”

 

Baekhyun made a face. “Yeah, I wouldn't date Lu Han either. I feel like it'd hurt. I walked in on him masturbating once. Did you know he had toys? They're ridiculous. I mean it was hot, but ridiculous. He threw one at me.”

 

Yixing's face turned red. He knew about the toys more than he should. Half of them were gifts given by Yixing just to get his roommate to calm down. “Someone's dating him, though. He got a boyfriend a month or two ago.”

 

“Oh, good for him, poor bloke,” Baekhyun said and raised a glass in the air before downing it. He wiped his mouth and stared off into space. “Well, who else do you know?”

 

Yixing took a bite of his pizza, swallowed, and wiped his mouth. “Yifan.”

 

“The tennis shoe designer that you blow with the giant dick? But you aren't doing that anymore, right?” Baekhyun said.

 

The phrasing of Baekhyun's words didn't sit well with Yixing. Yifan was a friend and they had an understanding. “What do you mean?”

 

Baekhyun whistled and poured himself another glass. “I mean, Minseok did tell me it was a recent development so maybe you haven't been notified or Yifan just didn't think he needed to since you guys aren't dating. He's actually found someone that can take his gigantic dragon cock up their ass and likes it.”

 

Yixing grimaced. “Who?”

 

“Minseok,” Baekhyun said. “You went shopping with him and took him to Yifan's shop. They've been talking for a couple months now. When I went to take that kid to him from the car accident, he told me about it. I mean, I ran away when Yifan tried to hit on me that time you introduced us and Minseok's even tinier. It's kind of hilarious.”

 

“Stop,” Yixing said leaning forward to hold his head in his hand. He felt numb and he didn't think it was the alcohol.

 

“But I mean he's so tiny but he can take all that, fuck, that's hot. No wonder Yifan's settling down with him,” Baekhyun continued laughing maniacally. The paramedic was already half drunk. He could go on like this for a few more hours.

 

Yixing sighed and bypassed the tiny glass to grab the new bottle of soju. He unscrewed the lid and brought the bottle to his lips. Baekhyun would make him sit here with him until Jongdae closed in an hour. That didn't mean Yixing had to be comprehensive enough to listen.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

The subway was pretty much empty at this time of night, mostly young adults getting back from partying on a weekday and old businessmen wasted with ties around their heads. Yixing was a mixture of both. He swayed as he shuffled his way through the subway humming to himself his recent musical addiction. Everything was blurry, but he was going on instincts. It wasn't the first time Yixing went home drunk by himself. He'd ditched Baekhyun at the pizzeria the moment Jongdae started ushering the other customers out with half a bottle of soju still left to drink. Baekhyun would finish it. He'd forgotten to pay Jongdae, though. Next time.

 

Yixing sighed and looked down at his briefcase. It was starting to hurt his hands. He'd almost forgotten it at the pizzeria. It wasn't like there was really anything important in it, but Yixing liked to bring things back home to study. It was a habit from his schooling days not that he wasn't still learning. He moved it back and forth between his hands rearranging his fingers' grip on the handle before putting it back how he originally had it. For a briefcase he'd had for so long, it still looked fairly new. Maybe that was just because it was metal. Yixing dusted it off lovingly.

 

“Hey, watch it you youngin',” an old man slurred as he bumped shoulders with Yixing.

 

Yixing stopped stroking his briefcase and blinked a couple times to get the man in vision. An old drunkard, red faced and grumpy. Yixing bowed as he apologized. “Sorry.”

 

The man just humphed and continued on walking in a zigzag through the subway station.

 

With a sigh, Yixing continued his own awkward shuffling. He tried to pay a bit more attention. Most people ignored being bumped into if they couldn't avoid it. Yixing had always admired he could walk around drunk without too much criticism in Seoul. As long as he wasn't being loud or making a ruckus, he could be left alone which was just the type of drunk Yixing was. It made him feel light and happier. And he could breath at least until the hangover hit. Yixing usually visited Yifan when he had a hangover, but he couldn't do that now.

 

The happy lightness started to fade. Yixing stopped walking and shook himself. It wasn't like he was ever interested in Yifan. They were friends. They'd only kissed the first time Yixing went down on Yifan and not more since. It was only ever Yixing doing the pleasuring anyways. He'd gotten better at it, but it wasn't like he was good at it since the beginning. He'd known Minseok for a few years. He was the same age as Yixing's roommate which was where Yixing had initially been introduced to the new resident. They were long time friends and Minseok had needed someone to vouch for him to get the job at Yixing's hospital. He wanted to be a pediatrician but kept getting stuck with lessons that took him more on the route of a OB/GYN. Minseok did look a bit like a kid, so Yixing thought he'd be good at it, but he was sexy, too. Yifan must have figured that out since he was now fucking that small body.

 

Yixing laughed. Drunk off his rocker, he now understood why Baekhyun had thought the image so hilarious.

 

And hot.

 

Yixing was hot.

 

The gate he needed to get through was right in front of him, but he stopped to fan himself. He hoped his subway car was cool.

 

Heavy footsteps sounded from behind Yixing. He turned just as someone in a hoodie and torn jeans and a black bag came flying at him. They pushed at Yixing shoulder to get past him then jumped the gate. Yixing looked around. There weren't any security guards nearby. Maybe they were changing shifts, but it wasn't time for a shift change. Seconds later, a guy that looked straight out of a sci-fi action film came barreling towards Yixing. He wore all black from his sunglasses down to his shoes and a large poncho like coat. As he ran, Yixing could see the glint of something silver under the poncho or many silver things. He felt stuck like a deer in the headlights. Terrorist attack? No, not here in this subway. Undercover police.

 

“Move it!”

 

Yixing jumped.

 

“I said move!”

 

Yixing didn't. His mind told him to, but being drunk made it hard to listen to his own thoughts. Instead of just getting pushed to the side, Yixing was barreled straight into. He felt his back hit against the gate bar then he slumped to the subway floor, head hitting against the bars next. He lifted one hand to the back of his head and the other to his back and rubbed.

 

“Fucking tunnel vision!”

 

Yixing looked up to see the poncho guy sprawled out on the ground in front of him. He sat up and removed his fancy black sunglasses just enough to rub at the bridge of his nose, but Yixing caught sight of slanted tired looking eyes. They glanced over to him and Yixing stiffened up. The poncho man stood and lifted a wrist with a complicated watch up to his mouth.

 

“Kai, they got away...Yeah I know...I got poisoned, tunnel vision...yeah, ran into a doctor or something...Probably the west gate...Yeah well you have all the rest of the month to have sex...I'll meet you in five.” The poncho man turned to Yixing and lifted a small tube flashlight at him. He pushed a button on it and Yixing immediately looked away. The man kept pushing the button. “Great, it broke.”

 

“Sorry,” Yixing said.

 

The man raised a brow at Yixing then squatted in front of him. “Are you alright?”

 

Yixing felt around his head and back some more. “No concussion, just bruising on my back, so, probably.”

 

The man nodded and stood back up then pointed a menacing finger at Yixing. “Forget what you just saw.”

 

Forget? Yixing could barely stand properly. “I'm drunk.”

 

The man stared at Yixing for a moment. At least Yixing figured that's where he was staring. He’d put back on his sunglasses and their lenses were dark, like black mirrors reflecting Yixing’s pathetic state on the subway floor.The man suddenly laughed.

 

“Good, now go home,” the man said and hurried off.

  
Yixing stood and wiped himself down then looked at his empty hands. Briefcase. He turned around and saw a silver briefcase on the other side of the gate. Digging through one of his pockets, Yixing pulled out his subway card and slid through the gate. Yixing frowned as he picked up the case. It looked a bit worse for ware, but he held it protectively and climbed onto the train that arrived only seconds later. It was as he was taking a seat that he noticed the poncho man had come back looking around frantically before lifting his head in Yixing's direction. The car jerked and Yixing stumbled a bit landing on the seats he'd been aiming for. He turned his head only to watch the poncho man slowly removing his sunglasses. He was staring at the tracks with a forlorn look. Had they run over the guy he'd been chasing? No, there would have been more of a commotion than that. Either way, Yixing felt bad.

 

\------------------------------------------------


	2. I Don't Have One

**2\. I Don’t Have One**

 

    Yixing often dreamed of freak procedures after long hours at the hospital which made up most of his schedule. He always remembered them to a T the next morning. Luhan often said he moved a lot when he dreamed. They use to share a bed back when Luhan first became his roommate in college. They weren't originally roommates, but neighbors. Yixing graciously let the older move in when his roommate boyfriend of two years tried to hurt him. When Luhan graduated, they moved into the apartment they now shared, but it was Luhan telling Yixing about the dreams that made Yixing confident that his choice in a career in the medical field was the correct one. Sometimes though, the dreams were gruesome nightmares.

 

The patient sedated on a stretcher in front of him was ridiculously huge in the stomach area and there were sharp bulges pushing out of their abdomen almost piercing through the skin, moving. It had started out as a simple procedure to remove shrapnel from an arm wound, but then the thing in the patient's stomach started to move. Yixing had delivered more than his fair share of emergency babies in both real life and his dreams, but it was always the most terrifying procedure Yixing knew. His hands moved with familiar ease. A c-section. With the patient already passed out, Yixing quickly maneuvered them in the right position. After yelling a few orders, Yixing was magically ready to cut. It was difficult. The thing in the patient's stomach was moving more uncontrollably. Yixing's hands kept steady as he worked, but he had to keep moving away when the creature moved into his way. And there was blood, so much blood. When his tools finally cut through to the womb, a burst of sickly blood shot out at Yixing's face. Momentarily, Yixing was blinded by red. When he had wiped enough away to see, he was faced with  the patient’s flat line on the heart monitor. The cut in their abdomen grew larger as needle like claws began to force their way out of the opening followed by glowing goat like eyes as it continued to climb out of its host, the size of a toddler, something between a scorpion and a monkey. Yixing stopped, backed up, and the creature raised a poisonous tail at him. Then, it leaped.

 

“Yixing, get up!”

 

Yixing started gasping for air as the creature clung to his face in the dream, suffocating him, most of its body heavy on his chest. It started pressing down over and over.

 

“Dr. Zhang Yixing, wake up!”

 

Finally, Yixing sat up, reaching out as if to throw the creature from his face. He gasped for air as he opened his eyes and looked around. “Lu....Luhan?”

 

Luhan grinned at Yixing before his eyes widened and he scrambled off the bed over to one of Yixing's drawers. He threw a bunch of random clothing articles around the room before pulling out an inhaler and bringing it over to Yixing. Yixing took it and breath in the bitter taste of the medicine. He curled up into a ball in the middle of the bed and felt Luhan curl up against him, rubbing his back.

 

“Sorry,” Luhan said softly, hand moving up and down Yixing's spine sending pleasant tingles through Yixing that helped settle the nausea in his stomach. His head was pounding though.

 

“I have a hangover,” Yixing said.

 

“I know, that's why I didn't wake you earlier, but you were starting to do that thing where you do surgery in your sleep. Last time, you actually opened your briefcase,” Luhan said.

 

Yixing groaned. “I can't take anything for sleepwalking.”

 

“I'm not worried about that,” Luhan said stilling his hand. “I can just make sure you leave your scalpels in the living room and lock the door from the outside. What you need is a vacation.”

 

Yixing shifted on the bed and turned to lay on his back so he could look up at a slightly out of focus Luhan. He was pretty, always had been. He didn't even look close to thirty. He looked like a boy with a beanie covering his fluffy lightened hair, and glittering doe eyes staring worriedly down at Yixing. Yixing reached up and pinched one of his roommate's cheeks. “What would you do if someone came in?”

 

Luhan slapped Yixing's hand away. “I can take care of myself. I'm older than you.”

 

The nausea was gone. He'd only taken a small huff to settle himself back into reality. Yixing sat up and reached out for Luhan who immediately avoided the contact leaving Yixing to pout as he laid sprawled across his bed. “What did you wake me up for anyways? Did you have to pounce on my chest?”

 

Luhan laughed and walked over to the mirror fixing his hair beneath the beanie. “It's after twelve and I'm heading out soon. It was either pouncing on you, or blowing against your neck.”

 

Immediately, Yixing moved a hand to cover his neck. “I hate that. Are you going out with your boyfriend?”

 

Luhan tossed Yixing a peace sign. “He's stupid and I hate him.”

 

Yixing laughed. “And yet he's the one you chose to give your virginity to?”

 

Luhan gagged. “I wasn't ready for sex back then or I would have been branding other penises, but we're not here to talk about my sex life unless we’re going to talk about what you’re going to do about yours?”

 

“I don't have one,” Yixing said reaching out to his bedside table for a pair of weak prescription glasses. He slipped them on letting the slight blurriness of things close up come into focus. “Up until you started dating that Jongin guy, we were on the same level.”

 

“Okay, but what about Yifan? You okay with him dating?”

 

With a sigh, Yixing finally stood up from the bed, a sheet wrapped around his body as he tried to remember what he'd done with his doctor coat when he got home. This was why he had a locker, but he was just so use to wearing it. “That's his choice. It's not like I'm really missing out on anything.”

 

“True, Yifan wasn’t reciprocating,” Luhan said and finally turned away from the mirror with a white coat in his hand.

 

Yixing took it and wrapped it around his mostly naked form as he searched for clean scrubs and a easy outfit. “Then what's the problem? I don't like Yifan that way.”

 

“Right, you like the other doctor,” Luhan said under his breath. Yixing pretended not to hear. “Anyways, why I mention it is that Yifan wants to hangout tomorrow. Minseok will be with him. I think he wants you two to be friends or something.”

 

“Third wheeling?” Yixing asked.

 

“More like he'll probably try and set you up with someone,” Luhan stated. “Will you go? You need a break anyways, you can just run off once Yifan knows you're good.”

 

Yixing pulled out a pair of boxers and sighed. “I'm good, but if it'll make him feel better, I'll go. I could use some sun.”

 

Luhan threw a clean t-shirt at him. “That's the spirit. Now hurry up and get dressed. I have to do some prep work and I don't need you listening.”

 

Yixing gagged and hurried to the bathroom before Luhan could throw anything else at him.

 

“I meant for work, you pervert!”

 

o    o

\  /

( ^ o ^ ) 

 

Though Yixing had promised to hangout with Yifan the following afternoon, Yixing still agreed to stay at the hospital until noon after his shift. He struggled getting his scrubs into his locker while trying to pull out his briefcase at the same time. He ended up closing the locker on one pant leg still sticking out halfway. With a sigh, Yixing tried to poke the pant leg back into the locker with no avail. He was suppose to mean Yifan and Minseok by one and the train ride would take thirty minutes at least and he still needed to stop by his apartment if he could. He was already going to be late. Yixing left his locker be. If anything, he'd get laughed at or Junmyeon would fix it for him.

 

Yixing adjusted his tie as he walked out into the sun and smoothed back his hair. He didn't often get to see the sun without it already setting on the horizon. He was either asleep or cooped up in a hospital room preparing for this or that. And it was always cooler at night when he usually left work. Yixing stopped by one of the cement seats outside of the hospital's main door to place his briefcase on as he rolled up the sleeves of his button up. He patted at his chest then looked around. His white coat. He'd left it in his locker where he probably should leave it. Yixing looked at his watch. There really wasn't time for this. Maybe he should just call Yifan to tell him to reschedule, but Minseok was a doctor, too, and he had made time for his boyfriend. Yixing shouldn't have picked up the shift, but the other doctor had to do an immediate surgery. It would be better just to take the subway straight to Yifan and bypass changing at the apartment. He might smell like sterilizing disinfectant still, but at least Yixing wasn't in scrubs. He looked quite dapper actually, at least Yixing tried.

 

“Hey, Dr. Zhang!”

 

Yixing turned, a hand already raised in polite greeting before he had registered who was calling him. It was Baekhyun. The paramedic headed over to him all apple cheeked grins and pulled him into an over the shoulder side hung.

 

“I never see you on the morning shift,” Baekhyun said sliding into a more brotherly side hug. “I got asked to come in early.”

 

Yixing slouched. “I didn't have a morning shift, I just stayed over a few hours. I'm suppose to meet up with friends soon.”

 

“Oh, friends?” Baekhyun asked raising a brow.

 

Yixing adjusted his glasses. “Not like you and Jongdae. I'm meeting Yifan.”

 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “So exactly like me and Jongdae.”

 

“And Minseok,” Yixing added.

 

Baekhyun clicked his tongue. “Seriously? What a jerk. I mean Minseok's cool, but Yifan's a jerk. At least he could have asked you out himself and explained everything to you before trying to get his old squeeze to be buddy buddy with his main squeeze.”

 

Yixing pushed Baekhyun off him very gently and rubbed the base of his back. “There's nothing to explain because the only one squeezing anything is Minseok. I've really gotta run now, Baekhyun.”

 

Baekhyun nodded and Yixing was about to reach for his briefcase when the paramedic spoke up again. “What happened to your case? I would say you got a new one, but that one's all bent out of shape.”

 

Yixing picked up his briefcase and examined it. “I had a small incident on the subway the other night. I guess my luck ran out.”

 

Baekhyun moved closer and looked at one of the locks where a large dent was more obvious than others in the mess of scrapes on the silver metal casing. “Can you even open this thing?”

 

Yixing shook his head. “I plan to take it to the locksmith soon or have Luhan pry it open. I had most of my stuff in my locker that I really needed.” Yixing had noticed his briefcase looked worse for ware, but he also remembered, not clearly, getting run into on multiple occasions the last time he was drunk. It wasn't until he had arrived to work and tried to open the case that Yixing realized just how bad the damage was. He had tried to be optimistic. There was actually more equipment in his case than he had extras of, but nothing he couldn't get from the supply in his locker.

 

Baekhyun reached out for the case and shook it. “I know you said you didn't have much stuff in here, but this doesn't feel heavy at all. It's as light as a feather and doesn't make a sound.”

 

Yixing grabbed the briefcase back from Baekhyun and carefully shook it. He had had a couple vials of nothing particularly dangerous in his case. There was a chance they wouldn't have broken in the fall, but they should have been rolling around and clinking along with his other stethoscope and utensils. And he had papers, not a textbook worth, but papers still.

 

“You sure that's your case?” Baekhyun asked.

 

“I don't know,” Yixing said lifting the case and finally getting a good look at it. His briefcase had been almost immaculate. This one looked like it had been used to deflect claws and bats. There had been a guy in a poncho looking around the platform when Yixing got onto his cart.

 

Baekhyun opened his mouth to say something, but Yixing's phone rang and he jumped dropping the case. Searching in his pants pockets, Yixing pulled out his cell and answered.

 

“Ah, Yifan, sorry, I got held up at work, I'm headed over right now.”

 

There was low toned complaining for a good few minutes and Yixing squinted his eyes and pressed his bottom lip out in displeasure at being lectured.

 

“I know I shouldn't break promises, but I'm a doctor, Yifan.”

 

More complaining then a softer voice urging Yifan to calm down. Minseok.

 

“I know Minseok's a doctor, too,” Yixing said, though the older man wasn't of the same level as Yixing. “I'm just going to be a little late. I promise I'm on my way right now. Trust me.”

 

After a couple more lines of complaints, Yifan told him to hurry.

 

Yixing pressed the end call on his phone then pocketed it before turning to the paramedic. Baekhyun was seated on the cement fiddling with Yixing's dropped briefcase. He had his tongue poking out of the side of his mouth and one eye closed while the other peered into one of the locks' holes, a pen in one hand ready to jab.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“I'm going to open it,” Baekhyun replied.

 

Yixing reached out and took the briefcase away. “I really need to get going.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, go be an angel to your dick friend. I guess you've gotta be a dick in order to have one that big,” Baekhyun said.

 

Yixing tried not to, but he laughed.

 

o    o

\  /

( ^ o ^ ) 

 

Yixing blotted at the sweat on his neck when he finally made it to the park where Yifan had wanted to meet up. He had reached the subway during the  lunchtime rush. Though he'd managed to get a seat, he was stuck between two elderly businessmen who were already musky from just walking. When he got up to offer his seat to a pregnant woman, he'd been pushed into another crowd of sweaty men by a businessman in his forties getting to the seat first. The woman didn't seem to have wanted the seat much, but standing outside in the sun's heat in the middle of the day, Yixing really wished he had had time to go back home and wash up. But it wasn't like he was trying to impress anyone.

 

As Yixing headed into the middle of the park, he trashed his sweaty napkins and kept changing grips on his briefcase. He would have liked to drop the mysterious case off as well. Baekhyun had made a fair point with the briefcase. This was definitely not his. Maybe it was the poncho guy's.

 

“Hey, over here!”

 

Yixing turned hearing a familiar voice and saw Yifan trotting over to him all long legged in tight jeans and a white t-shirt that was tight but also just long enough in the front. It wasn't until he had stopped in front of Yixing that he noticed Minseok behind Yifan, not a bit out of breath even for having to run faster to keep up with...his boyfriend.

 

“You took forever,” Yifan complained standing over Yixing like a menacing older brother.

 

Yixing just took a step back and adjusted his glasses. “I hurried. There was a rush of people at the subway.”

 

“That's why you shouldn't have agreed to stay longer.”

 

“I had to,” Yixing defended.

 

Minseok moved between Yifan and Yixing and place a hand on Yifan's chest pushing him back. “You already complained enough on the phone. You're the one that insisted we hang out today, so leave him be. It's not easy to get free time as a doctor, especially as a good doctor.”

 

Minseok turned to Yixing and flashed him a grin. Yixing returned it with a dimpled tug of his lips. A good doctor. Yixing was glad the other thought so. He really didn't mind Minseok. They could get along just fine outside of work just as they did at the hospital. Yifan was just a drama queen sometimes.

 

Yifan sighed and took the hand Minseok had on his chest in his own. He turned and started down the park path. “There's a festival going on today. There was an act I wanted you to see, but it's already over. If we walk around, though, we might see the band members still hanging out.”

 

“They're not going to play just because you ask them to,” Minseok pointed out.

 

Yifan's shoulders slumped and Yixing moved the briefcase under one arm. He didn't need to be introduced to anyone. The people Yixing did date usually just appeared, he had never really tried dating on his own. His first real girlfriend had been a friend from high school who had always had a crush on him that finally confessed. He had had a couple short term girlfriends in high school that he'd lost to more exciting guys, but always without ill feelings. He'd even had one boyfriend who made out with him on the roof of their middle school for a whole week before pretending Yixing didn't exist and Yixing had let that pass. They were children, and though his ideology might have been more mature than theirs, his emotions weren't. Yixing's feelings were still much the same. It was easier just to let things go. Sure, he felt disrespected that Yifan hadn't ended whatever they had going on properly before he started to date Minseok, but Minseok wasn't the only one Yifan had ever attempted to have sex with either during the time Yixing had known the other man. But, this was real dating and Yifan had not really dated someone in years. And now he was trying to set Yixing up?

 

Yixing didn't dare say anything. Luhan was right, all he had to do was tag along for an hour and have polite conversations with anyone they stopped to talk to then he could run off to the bathroom and let the actual lovers enjoy their date. Getting lost wouldn't be unbelievable and getting called in was something that always happened.

 

They did end up finding the band. All five members were gorgeous, but actual dicks, not just friends with their priorities out of whack. Yixing didn't know which member exactly Yifan wanted him to get to know, so he talked to all of them equally then followed Yifan and Minseok around the park more listening to a couple sets on different small stages spread apart while the taller and shorter men flirted. They were cute. Yixing liked the pairing more than he thought he would. When they mentioned food, Yixing figured it was a good time to make his escape.

 

“I've got to go to the restroom,” Yixing said and pointed in the direction of the park's bathrooms.

 

“Okay, we'll meet you at the food stands, just call,” Yifan said.

 

Minseok looked Yixing up and down then over at the bathroom. “There's a long line. You should leave your briefcase with us. You've been carrying it all day and it seems like it’s an annoyance. You really didn't have to rush here.”

 

Yixing frowned. How would he use a urinal carrying a briefcase anyways? Thinking about it made him actually want to go. He handed the case over to Minseok, trusting the other doctor with the mysteries inside. He would have to use the called in excuse or just get lost later.

 

The line was indeed long. The urinals went quickly, but there were always empty ones between users. When Yixing finally got close enough, he pushed through and took one of them not bothering to worry about the guys around him, made a quick trip to the sink, and then was free. Yixing took a deep breath of the fresh air outside then started to walk back to where he'd left Yifan and Minseok.

 

“Dr. Zhang Yixing.”

 

Yixing stopped and turned his head. There was a young guy walking towards him from the direction of the bathroom in a black bomber jacket, black skinny jeans, and a black hat along with dark shaded sunglasses. He came to a stop beside Yixing and turned, slipping his hands back in his pockets.

 

“Can I help you?” Yixing asked. Maybe this was one of the patients he'd worked on recently or a family member.

 

“Yes you can,” the man said and lifted a hand to his sunglasses pulling them down just enough for Yixing to see his eyes.

 

They were familiar. Slanted and tired looking. The poncho man. Immediately, Yixing bowed. “I apologize for running into you the other night.”

 

The man's lips pulled into a sneer and he jerked back unpleasantly startled. “Running into me? I ran into you. I mean, you didn't move, that's what the problem was.”

 

Yixing stood back up. The other man was just a tad bit taller than him, but he was slouching, shoulders rolled forward as if to appear small but intimidating. Yixing cocked his head to the side. “Oh, then are you hurt somewhere?”

 

The man shook his head. “No. I want my briefcase back.”

 

Briefcase. Yixing looked at his hands. Minseok had it. “I don't have it right now. Do you know where mine is?”

 

The man pulled out a phone and scrolled before showing Yixing a picture. It was a snapshot from the subway, more particularly, the tracks of the subway where a metal briefcase had been run over and popped open. Its contents were spread all about the tracks, glass vials and a mangled stethoscope, documents about unclassified patients free to share fluttered out like discarded pamphlets. Yixing was glad he hadn't had anything too important in there, but he was sad to see his briefcase meet such a tragic end.

 

“Your name, I recovered it from there,” the man said pocketing his phone.

 

Name. Yixing had paid to have his embroidered on the inside of that case, but still, what if the other case wasn't the poncho man's, but the other man that had initially ran past Yixing. They could be gangsters for all Yixing knew. He should turn the case over to police. “Give me your information and if I picked up your case, I'll call you.”

 

“Just give me the case,” the man said, voice lowered.

 

Yixing frowned. “I don't have it right now. You can come with me. A friend is holding it right now.”

 

The man clicked his tongue. “You get it and bring it back here.”

 

Yixing looked around. He didn't know where Minseok and Yifan had went. “I'll have to call my friends. I don't know where they went.” They had been headed towards the food court, but Yixing had been in line for a long time.”

 

The man nodded his head for Yixing to do so, but when Yixing pulled his phone out, he found it dead. He waved it at the man. “Sorry.”

 

The dark clad man let out an exasperated sigh and muttered under his breath. Yixing only managed to catch one phrase “never messed up so bad in all my career.”

 

“You can walk with me to find it,” Yixing offered again.

 

The dark clad man took a step back. “No, I'll find you again, just get it back.”

 

“Can I have your name at least? How do I know it's yours?” Yixing finally said.

 

The man gritted his teeth and lowered his voice. “Unlike your ill fated case, mine actually contains classified items. You keep it safe until you see me again. And you will see me again very soon. I know your name, Dr. Zhang Yixing.”

 

It took Yixing a second to realize the man before him was trying to be intimidating. Yixing wasn't sure if it was working. This dark clad guy seemed more like a punk ass kid and Yixing had never been very bothered by that type. “Okay,” was all he replied.

 

The dark clad man cocked his head to the sighed before straightening up. “Good, I'm glad you understand.”

 

“Yixing!”

 

Yixing turned hearing his name being called. He saw Yifan hurrying towards him and waved him over. He turned back to ask the man to come with him once more for his briefcase, but he was gone.

 

“Hey, Yixing, we called you.”

 

“Phone died,” Yixing said staring at the spot the dark clad man had been.

 

“Well, Minseok got called into work, so we're leaving. We bought you food, though. Minseok's still on the phone, so let's hurry back.”

 

Yixing finally looked away and sighed. At least he got free food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are Appreciated.


	3. I'm Happy For You

**3\. I’m Happy For You**

 

    A quiet night at home was a rare occurrence in Yixing's life. Even on days he did have off, Yixing usually slept until late in the evening then went about doing chores and errands, but Yixing had until the night shift tomorrow off and if he woke up early enough, he could do laundry before he got called in. Though Minseok had to rush off as soon as Yixing got to the food carts, Yifan had stayed with him long enough for Yixing to finish the meal and even walked him to the subway. He had half expected Yifan to leave with Minseok, but either Minseok had a better leash on Yifan than Yixing had thought or Yifan wasn't as big of a dick as Baekhyun liked to complain he was. It was nice though, a friendly chat, but on any other night, he would have ended it hanging out at Yifan's place, watching a movie or playing video games, then getting the taller man off just inside his room, never on his bed, and then trudging back to the couch to nap until five in the morning when Yixing disappeared without a word and got an earful at work the next morning.

 

Yifan did stop Yixing from just hopping onto the subway train, though.

 

“Yixing, we weren't dating, you know that, right?”

 

Yifan had his arms crossed, but he wasn't looking at Yixing. Yixing stepped away from the gate and sighed. “I've never wanted to date you.”

 

“So you're okay with this?” Yifan asked.

 

Yixing was okay, but he wasn't happy. “I think you two are cute together. I like it. You're happy, right?”

 

“Very happy,” Yifan said. “But, I should have at least talked to you about Minseok. We're friends and he's your co worker.”

 

“Sometimes love just takes over your thoughts. You probably weren't sure he would be able to handle you for even a month,” Yixing said.

 

“Don't make excuses for me.” Yifan's voice was hard and made Yixing wince. “I did wrong and you have the right to be angry with me.”

 

Yixing looked towards the track. His train would be here soon. “What's the point?”

 

“The point is it makes you feel real, that's what emotions are for.”

 

“I don't want to be angry, Yifan.”

 

“Then try being happy,” Yifan countered.

 

Happy? “I am happy. I’m happy for you.”

 

“Not for me, for you,” Yifan clarified.

 

Wasn't okay good enough? “My train is coming. I need to get past the gate.”

 

Yifan rolled his eyes. “Fine, but the next night you have off, you're coming with me, Zhang Yixing.”

 

Yixing wasn't sure when his next night off was, but he had rode the subway in a trance then walked to the closest convenience store to his apartment and picked up his groceries for the week. Luhan wasn't home when he'd arrived, probably still filming for the news stations somewhere. He plopped the briefcase that wasn't his onto his desk then slid into the shower. Clean, it felt good to feel clean. Though Yixing worked in a sterile environment, it was constantly being sterilized. Sick and injured people everywhere. Yixing had stuck his hands in more disgusting things than he could think of outside of a sanitation worker. But this was a fresh clean. Luhan always made sure to buy soaps and shampoos without medical scents in them. Usually, that meant the ones targeted towards females, but Yixing didn't mind. It meant Luhan cared and it always gave Yixing warm fuzzy feelings. He use to tease his roommate about it, but Luhan knew Yixing appreciated him as long as he used the stuff he bought.

 

But, Luhan had a boyfriend now. No, a lover. How long before Luhan moved out?

 

Once out of the shower, Yixing walked about his room towel drying his hair, another towel around his waist. There were a few fliers on his bedside table about lasik eye treatments. His nearsightedness wasn't too bad, but Luhan liked to leave them there for him anyways. He moved them over to his desk then looked at the scratched up briefcase that wasn't his. He touched it and frowned. His actual briefcase was such a poor thing being crushed by a subway train. But, what had this case been through to get all its scratches and dents? How old was it? Yixing knew they didn't make this model anymore. Its owner was a mystery, too. Who was the slanted eyed black clad poncho man?

 

Yixing pulled out his computer chair and slid in, pulling the briefcase closer to him. He shouldn't open someone's case, but he wasn't even sure it was that man's. Yixing remembered seeing silver beneath the poncho that night. Had it been this? It must have gotten loose from where it was hooked. If he could at least know a name, Yixing could say it the next time he saw the other man. Yixing hadn't considered it before, but there could also be a bomb inside. It was fairly light. If there was something dangerous inside, Yixing could just leave the case somewhere far from other people and tell the guy where he hid it next time they ran into each other. That seemed like the best plan. Yixing started examining the outside of the case. There wasn't any wiring there or signs that if he opened it, it would explode, just a keyhole and combinations on both sides. He pulled out a couple needles and started messing with the locks. He was surprised when it opened after only a couple failed combinations sequences. Yixing laid it flat on the desk and slowly opened it. The inside of the briefcase was full of black foam and in the middle of it was a vial of green liquid with small bits of particles. Yixing reached out and lifted the vial. The tube was just under room temperature. Yixing placed it back down and got up for his glasses. He put them on and grabbed the vial again, holding it up to the light. The little particles were moving around quickly in the green liquid.

 

“What in the world,” Yixing muttered to himself. Being in the medical field, Yixing had seen such containers often and with a million different liquids. He'd memorized textbooks upon textbooks of biology and chemistry and anatomy, but he couldn't guess what this particular substance was. “Microscope. Where is it?”

 

Yixing put the vial back in the briefcase and went to his closet pulling down a small red microscope he used for personal study. It had been a while since he'd done anything on a microscopic level. The towel around his waist fell off as Yixing made his way back to his desk. He ignored it and got setup. Yixing didn't bother opening the vial, he didn't want to contaminate it. He hoped the vial's glass wouldn't make it difficult to see through. Yixing leaned forward and adjusted the lenses of his microscope while he held the vial under the light with his other hand until the little particles came into view.

 

Small blobby creatures. Not bacteria, at least not quite. There was intelligence in the way they moved. It was all Yixing could see with the simple microscope he had, but he knew what he was looking at. A pocket universe.

 

Respectfully, Yixing placed the vial into the case and locked it back up. He grimaced staring down at it. Baekhyun had shaken the briefcase, but perhaps this small universe was use to being shaken. It did appear to be a liquid universe, but Yixing had never encountered one before. Why did that man have this with him? Who was he?

 

It was a bit ridiculous.

 

“Yixing, I'm back, I—.”

 

Yixing turned in his chair to see Luhan peeking through his bedroom door. His roommate was wide eyed and staring downwards.

 

“What in the...You know what, if your science stuff gets you off, more power to you. I'll leave you to it. Man, no wonder you can handle all those work hours. You're a masochist.”

 

For a moment, Yixing wasn't sure what Luhan was on about then he looked down remembering he was naked. His skin grew warm, but Luhan had already left before he could explain himself. With a sigh, Yixing turned back to face his desk. He suppose it was payback for all the times he had walked in on Luhan fucking himself with all those weird toys. And since he was already naked and being left alone...

 

Yixing pulled out one of the drawers of his desk and brought out a cheap plastic store bought vial with a familiar thick liquid and a weird toy of his own.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

The late night munchies always led Yixing to the snack machines in the waiting room at the ER. He stared at the rows of pictures showing the available chips, cakes, and other more substantial food the machine had to offer for no more than a few wons. Yixing tapped his wallet against his other hand as he considered his options. Usually, he would just go for a granola bar, but he didn't remember eating anything when he woke up other than a couple supplemental juice pouches on the subway. There was kimbap, but Yixing had forgotten what one of the words meant in the listed fillings and didn't want to waste the few measly bills he kept in his wallet on something he had probably forgotten because he didn't like it. A bank trip was needed and so was food. Yixing wasn't as picky of an eater as Baekhyun. Yixing finally opened his wallet and was about to pull out a bill when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

 

There was a small stature man standing behind Yixing. He wore a dark suit with dark hair pushed back giving full view to his large white rich eyes and a black bag slung across his chest. He didn't smile, just stood there waiting for Yixing to reply as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

 

“Kyungsoo,” Yixing greeted.

 

“Where's Junmyeon?” the man asked.

 

Yixing checked his watch. “We haven't had any emergency surgeries yet so he's probably napping.”

 

“I came to bring him lunch,” Kyungsoo said and started to dig into his bag.

 

“I can go wake him up for you,” Yixing offered.

 

“No, just give him his food. I don't want to sleep deprive him.”

 

Yixing sighed. He knew how little time Junmyeon got to spend with his long time boyfriend even if they lived together. Any chance he got, Junmyeon spent with Kyungsoo. Usually, Yixing avoided the younger businessman. He was always like this. Kyungsoo would walk all the way to the hospital and then just leave when he couldn't get to Junmyeon right away. Maybe it was cute to Junmyeon. They were the ones dating, not Yixing, but he always thought Kyungsoo looked angry, not disappointed like other lovers would be.

 

Like Yixing would have been.

 

That was a lie. Yixing wouldn’t have even bothered to be a bother.

 

Yixing put on a smile. “It's really not a problem. Junmyeon would be happy to see you.”

 

Kyungsoo sighed and pulled out two containers. “I'm sure he would be, but he asked me to bring you both lunch. I think he would prefer seeing you eat a decent meal, Zhang Yixing.”

 

Yixing was about to retort, but was silenced by the look in Kyungsoo's large eyes. Jealousy. At least he made that emotion known.

 

“Kyungsoo, I...” Yixing started.

 

The businessman just held out the containers. “Junmyeon is good at keeping his time split between lovers and friends. I'll see him when he gets home.”

 

Kyungsoo pushed the containers towards Yixing. Yixing was about to take them when he heard the sirens and held his hands out.

 

“Take them to him yourself, I've got to deal with this,” Yixing said rushing towards the paramedic entrance.

 

Baekhyun was the first through the door followed by a gurney with a woman on it already getting oxygen pumped through her mouth. Yixing made his way to her, but was pulled away by Baekhyun, wide eyed and sweating.

 

“Yixing, it's an emergency,” Baekhyun said.

 

“Yes it is, that's why you came through the ER doors,” Yixing pointed out.

 

Baekhyun shook his head and looked around frantically. “No, it's an emergency emergency. She's...like me.”

 

Yixing narrowed his eyes. Baekhyun lifted his wrist to show Yixing the blood on it. Not his blood. Baekhyun closed his eyes and squeezed his fist. For a moment, the veins in Baekhyun's wrist glowed and the blood on it reacted, but it was gone in the next second. Yixing closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

 

“Anything else?” Yixing asked.

 

“She's pregnant,” Baekhyun added. “I got that out of her just before she passed out. It was a fire. Her apartment and the one above and below were damaged, but she was the only one home, but she had a blow to the head as well.”

 

Yixing nodded. “Get Minseok. If anyone asks, it's an SFPP protocol.”

 

Baekhyun hurried away and Yixing made his way to the gurney were nurses and newly named doctors were gathered. Yixing looked at each one of them. He knew most and knew they wouldn't do. He started to perform basic checks on the woman who was blinking now and looking over at him terrified. Yixing just smiled at her and gave her a knowing look before looking back up at the staff.

 

“If you don't have an SFPP certification, leave. This is a special case.”

 

Most of the staff looked at each other confused and Yixing pointed at each of them in turn. “You, you and you, leave. You, get make sure Dr. Kim Junmyeon doesn't come into my operating room. I know he likes to help.”

 

The staff scattered and Yixing led the few nurses left to an ER operating room. They got the woman on the bed setup and wheeled the gurney back out.

 

“Cut the lights and lock the doors. Dr. Kim Minseok will be here shortly to examine the pregnancy, but I need to do an overlook of the patient's health.”

 

A nurse moved to the door and stayed ready with a hand on the lights. Yixing pulled out a vial from one of his pockets tinted black and filled a syringe with the liquid inside. It was glowing and blue. The woman held out her arm and Yixing emptied the syringe into her bloodstream. He grabbed a clean towel and stuffed it into her mouth before giving the nurse at the lights a nod. The room went dark then there was a burst of light that settled into a humming blue glow. The woman was twitching, small painful groans muffled by the towel. Yixing could see her organs and veins and the pouch in her lower stomach where a glowing ball of cells swam spitting out puffs of the bioluminescent bacteria their bodies contained into the amniotic fluid cushioning the growing fetus. There was a cloudiness in the mother's chest area from the inhaled smoke and a congregation of bacteria on her arms and on her head trying to heal the mysterious external physical blows Baekhyun had reported.

 

“Turn the lights back on,” Yixing instructed.

 

The patient was still glowing in the bright lights of the room, but she had calmed down. Yixing pulled out another vial and filled up another syringe. He injected her with it and moved a flashlight to her eyes. The whites were black and the pupils and irises the same shade of blue that had glowed in her veins. He kept watch on them until they turned back into what humans were use to seeing in eyes and started hooking her up to IVs and monitors. There was a knock on the door and Yixing waved his hand to let the nurses know to open it.

 

“I'm here,” Minseok said. “Baekhyun said she was a Bright Star.”

 

“Yes. The mother seems fine, but someone did a number on her arms and got a head shot in, but not hard enough for a concussion. She's already started self healing. It's best if she naps for a while. The baby is the same as her. It looks like she used her powers when human self defense stopped working. She has some lung damage from the smoke, but one of the new guys can deal with that,” Yixing explained.

 

Minseok nodded. “It's good it wasn't much. I'll take over from here. Do you need to use your inhaler?”

 

Yixing shook his head. “No, but I'm going to have to be the one to deal with the police.”

 

Minseok patted Yixing's shoulder. “Go. I might want to be a pediatrician, but you know my specialty is in alien reproductive organs.” He winked at Yixing.

 

Yixing rolled his eyes and left the operating room. That must have been why he was so good with Yifan.

 

The ER had calmed down by the time Yixing had cleaned up and the police were already there along with a few guys in suits and one guy in a black leather jacket and dark shades, a familiar guy. Yixing ignored him as he made his way to the other men in suits.

 

“Dr. Zhang Yixing, we haven't been involved with you in a while,” one of the suited men said.

 

“Usually it's not something for the SFPP. Bright Star, pregnant, fire, and signs of self defense. She'll be open for questions as soon as we've got her set up in a room,” Yixing said.

 

“The husband is on his way,” the suited men said then turned and left to speak with the police for Yixing.

 

Yixing sighed. The SFPP, though not as scrutinizing as normal police, they were just as frightening. But, Yixing was the only high ranking doctor in this particular Seoul hospital that could deal with them, the Space Federation Police Protection. Yixing turned only to be startled by the familiar man in black.

 

“Why are you here?” Yixing asked taking a step back.

 

The man removed his glasses and glared. “Who are you?”

 

“Dr. Zhang Yixing,” Yixing replied. “I thought you had already found that out.”

 

“You're not part of the SFPP,” the man pointed out.

 

“No, are you?”

 

“No,” the man said and slipped his glasses back on. “You know about them?”

 

“Yes. There has to be one doctor in each hospital that does.”

 

The black clad man hummed. “I suppose you make sense then. You have relations to a Xiao Doe Alpha and a Draconian Transformative.”

 

Luhan and Yifan. Yixing crossed his arms. “If you're not part of the SFPP, why do you know that about me?”

 

“Where's my briefcase?” the man asked ignoring Yixing's question.

 

“The PD is in my apartment,” Yixing said. He had safely tucked the briefcase with the pocket dimension away in his closet.

 

The man took a step closer to Yixing, voice lowered. “You opened it?”

 

“Yes, but I didn't contaminate it. I should turn it over to the SFPP.”

 

“The SFPP gave that to us.”

 

“And who is, us?” Yixing demanded.

 

The man clicked his tongue. “Fine. I'll have it retrieved if you won't give it over willingly.”

 

“You can take it,” Yixing said. “You must know where I live. But, who are you?”

 

The black clad man turned and started walking towards the exit of the hospital. “Z.T of the MIB.”

 

MIB? Yixing had heard bands and movies with those acronyms. Men in Black. With the SFPP, Yixing never assumed the Men in Black would exist.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

Z.T of the MIB.

 

Z.T of the Men in Black.

 

Z.T of the...what did Z.T stand for?

 

Yixing walked out of the elevator and down the hall to his apartment twirling his keys around one finger. From what Yixing knew through pop media, the MIB were similar to the FBI in America. They were investigators of aliens and the supernatural, but Yixing had always assumed that's what the SFPP did. They were a organization above any actual government, but very few officials knew of them that were humans. The SFPP was mainly known outside of earth as a large and respected organization helping to keep peace between the known alien life forms and any new ones discovered. Minseok was one of the few humans Yixing knew who knew of the SFPP. Yixing had found that out when Minseok had started talking about aliens with him one day. He had delivered an alien baby in his high school days and was then given training by the SFPP even though Minseok actually wanted to be a pediatrician. Yixing had had dealings with aliens all of his life. He had sought out the SFPP himself. It was partially their help that had made Yixing the renowned doctor he was. But, other than medically, Yixing didn't have much contact with aliens. Baekhyun, Yifan, and Luhan were the only ones he really knew intimately along with a few others.

 

As Yixing opened the apartment, he figured he would ask Luhan if he had ever heard of the Men in Black. Luhan was an XDA, a Xiao Doe Alpha, the top of the food chain on the planet of Xiao Doe. Yixing wasn't sure where the planet exactly was located in the universe, but it was somewhere within the cloudy area of the milky way. They were a peaceful group of hermaphroditic aliens who used the SFPP to travel the planets under their protection to spread their enlightened intelligence that had led them to their peaceful highly sexual way of life. Luhan hadn't been born on his home planet, though, and for a group that relied on sex for peace, they weren't sexually developed until almost thirty. Luhan's boyfriend in college hadn't been aware of Luhan's extraterrestrial development and probably didn't know he had both sex organs and had tried to press Luhan into consummating their two year relationship which was when Luhan had ran to Yixing for help.

 

Walking into the apartment, Yixing hadn't considered the fact Luhan had just reached sexual maturity himself and had a boyfriend he was eager to ride.

 

Yixing opened Luhan's door only to see his roommate naked in all his pale XDA glory, beanie off so you could see the small horns growing out of his head now that he was an adult, head thrown back in pleasure as he rode his golden skinned boyfriend. Said boyfriend wasn't holding anything back, hips popping up and a long leathery tail curled around Luhan, fuzzy tip stroking Luhan's back end and claws scratching at the glittering tattoo like markings on Luhan's hips.

 

The most reasonable reaction was for Yixing to scream. Luhan's head popped around and he looked at Yixing surprised before looking angry. Luhan's boyfriend sat up and flipped them around so Luhan was under him and continued to move while growling protectively. Yixing quickly shut the door and ran to his room.

 

It wasn't as if Yixing had not assumed Luhan had finally started having sex. He had joked about it the minute Luhan had started complaining about his boyfriend. Still, he was always surprised even seeing his roommate fucking himself with toys, but this was another whole alien. A Shade, the alien species that founded the Space Federation Protection Program. They were strong and smart and rare on Earth outside of the SFPP. Maybe he would know about the MIB. Well, it wasn't like Yixing could ask right now. They would both be going for at least the rest of the hour which meant Yixing was stuck in his room until then. He walked over to his closet to check on the pocket dimension only to find the briefcase gone. Yixing frowned. He had said Z.T could just take the case himself if he knew where Yixing lived, but he hadn't expected him to, not when it was so late at night and everyone was home, and not when he hadn’t bothered to already.

 

Thirty minutes later, Yixing heard a door opening and peeked out of his room only to see the Shade walking out of Luhan's room dressed in an opened white dress shirt and unbuttoned black slacks holding a jacket and a beat up silver briefcase in one hand.

 

Briefcase.

 

“Hey, where are you taking that?” Yixing asked pointing down the hall.

 

The Shade turned, eyes wide and started to hurry to the door. Yixing ran after him, but Luhan exited his room blocking Yixing dressed only in a silk robe. “Leave him alone Yixing!”

 

“He took my briefcase,” Yixing complained.

 

“He took his partner's briefcase,” Luhan corrected.

 

“You know?” Yixing asked.

 

Luhan crossed his arms. “If I'm mating, you don't think I'd want to know everything about the person I'm mating with. Next week is XDA mating week, he had to take time off for me.”

 

Yixing made a face. “And you're just letting him take something from your roommate?”

 

“What do you expect? I'm not going against the Men in Black. They've got all sorts of weapons and junk on everyone. They're not the SFPP, they're the ones the SFPP send out when things go wrong. Jongin's part of both.”

 

“Jongin?” Yixing remembered the guy Z.T was talking to the night he ran into him had been refereed to as Kai. So Z.T was just an undercover name. “Well his partner has been harassing me. You could have told me about it.”

 

“I...didn't know about that. He just told me he thought you might have taken the wrong case and when I saw it I knew it wasn't yours. I've never met his partner,” Luhan said.

 

Yixing pursed his lips. He wasn't really upset with Luhan. He wasn't even upset with Z.T or his partner.. There wasn't anything he could do about it. Yixing moved his hand to his head and sighed. “I'm just tired.”

 

Luhan moved forward and ruffled Yixing's hair. “Get some rest Doctor. I'll have Yifan take you out properly when my mating week starts.”

 

“Sure, just don't get yourself pregnant,” Yixing said turning and headed back to his room.

  
“Don't jinx me Dr. Zhang!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are Appreciated.


	4. I Thought You Were Cool

**4\. I Thought You Were Cool**

 

    A week later, Yixing found himself walking down a busy sidewalk towards the side of town where night life flourished. It had been a month since he had last gone clubbing which was around the last time he had stayed over at Yifan's. Just as Luhan had promised, Yixing had been kicked out of the apartment on his only night off to go be a third wheel to Yifan's and Minseok's date while Luhan let that MIB agent, Kai, all up in his personal business. Luhan wasn't letting Yixing around Jongin and Yixing wasn't sure if he even had anything to talk to the Shade about. Z.T had not come around since his partner had snuck the pocket dimension back to him. The SFPP had contacted Yixing for follow up questions on the pregnant Bright Star that had been attacked, but nothing more since. Everything was settling down again.

 

“Yixing, we've been standing in line for forty minutes already!”

 

Standing in a line at maybe not the flashiest of clubs was Yifan and Minseok waving him down. Yixing hurried over and excused himself as he cut in front of the others in line to stand with his friends.

 

“What took you so long?” Yifan asked.

 

“I didn't know what to wear?”

 

“Didn't know what — when was the last time you did laundry?” Yifan asked.

 

“Yesterday,” Yixing answered.

 

“Then you should have plenty to wear.”

 

“You look nice, Yixing,” Minseok chimed in. “Yifan's just angry because they're not pulling him ahead in line like usual because he's with me.”

 

Yixing sent his co-worker a thankful smile. He had just donned on the shiniest button up he had in red and paired it with a vest and tight dark wash jeans pushing his hair back. He adjusted his glasses and looked at the front of the line. It was a little odd that Yifan wouldn't already be inside. This was their usual club, a club set up by the SFPP for aliens and humans in the know. And the current owners loved a well endowed Draconian Transformative like Yifan. The Dracos species had the same intelligence as Earthlings and the majority of them had the same temperament, though more territorial. They were passionate beings. And they could transform. Their skin was similar to that of an octopus' changing color and texture based on their surroundings, but in their true state, their skin was scaly and hard like armor, almost metal like to the touch, and they had wings and long horns and a long thick tail. They were beautiful the same way a snake was, but Yixing wasn't particularly moved by Yifan's Dracos form. Yifan did feel comfortable enough with Yixing to show it to him on multiple occasions particularly when Yixing was trying not to choke on his giant dracos dick, though.

 

“They won't let you cut in because your lover is human?” Yixing asked.

 

“It's stupid. Minseok is sexier than they'll ever know,” Yifan complained. “He can be fucked better than any XDA.”

 

Minseok moved closer to his boyfriend and nudged him. “Say something like that again and you won't see me getting fucked for a week.”

 

Yifan crossed his arms and looked away.

 

The front of the line was starting to move. Yixing watched it noticing a frown on the bouncer's face. “We probably won't see any XDAs tonight. It's mating week. I've got one holed up in my apartment with a Shade.”

 

“A Shade?” Yifan asked. “I've never actually seen one in full form. Didn't know that's who Luhan was gonna mate.”

 

“I don't think he was in full form,” Yixing said. Shades were the founders of the Space Federation Protection Program. They had perfected the use of time wrinkles and wormholes, but shared only the basics with other alien races that had yet to reach that intelligence. They weren't the peaceful sort, but aggressive in a take charge sort of way though Yixing hadn't seen much of that when he'd walked in on Luhan riding his boyfriend. They were cat like, skin covered in a velvet like fur usually black in color, claws, and a long leathery tail topped with a tuff. Yixing had seen an XDA-Shade hybrid before. They were beautiful antlered like a deer with skin as black as night, claws, but jewels glittering their body, and all the same hermaphroditic curves. They were the SFPP's favorite hybrid and Yixing could understand why the MIB would give Jongin time off to be with a newly matured XDA.

 

It was another thirty minutes before they were finally let in. The club wasn't futuristic for all its alien customers would suggest. At the door, they were all given two bottles of a liquid Yixing was very familiar with. Humans were a skittish sort. Seeing a dragon humanoid creature walking around wouldn't bode well for the development of their intelligence so they were kept on an accidental knowledge basis. All aliens were given a vial that would let them appear human and the other was to let their true form out. Most of the goers to the club kept their human forms, but some turned. Luhan was one that liked to keep his form as much as possible. Most young XDAs were like that as they could hide their growing horns under hats and the marks and jewels covering their bodies could be covered or considered tattoos. Yixing pocketed his vials as did Minseok to use at work. Yifan downed his and pulled Minseok off to the dance floor with his tail. Yixing sighed and looked around. What the club lacked in aesthetics, it made up for in size. There were three floors, the top floors were mostly private rooms you had to pay for, but there were suspended dance floors on each level you could cross a thin bridge to get to with seats on each side. Yixing headed to an elevator and planned to grab a seat on an upper floor to watch over Minseok's and Yifan's interactions. Watching other people be happy was always entertaining.

 

“Oh, sorry,” Yixing said as he walked on without looking only to bump shoulders with someone else. His arm was suddenly grabbed and Yixing found himself pulled away from the elevator and into a corner with someone slightly taller hovering over him.

 

“What are you doing here?” the person hissed.

 

Yixing looked up to see slanted tired eyes looking down at him. His eyes roamed down to see the expanse of a tanned muscled chest framed by a low unbuttoned shiny dark pleather shirt. There was a thin expanse of dark hair revealed on the naked deep plunge of the other’s collar and Yixing swallowed before looking back up, voice quiet as he responded. “Z.T?”

 

The man raised a brow at Yixing. “Don't call me that here, I'm undercover.”

 

Yixing narrowed his eyes and looked at the man's face. He had makeup on and his hair was blonde not the shiny black Yixing had seen before. “Okay.”

 

“Zitao,” the man said.

 

“Zitao,” Yixing repeated. Was that his name?

 

“You didn't answer my question,” Zitao said.

 

Yixing looked over at the dance floor. “I'm here with my friends.”

 

Zitao looked behind himself to where a Dracos was dancing with a small stature human. “He brings you here?”

 

“I've come here for years,” Yixing said. “I came with Luhan and then we met Yifan. Baekhyun comes sometimes, too.”

 

“You have a lot of alien friends,” Zitao said. He was studying Yixing. Eyes roaming his face then beginning to roam elsewhere. He still had Yixing pressed against the wall and Yixing looked everywhere but at the MIB agent wondering when he'd move away. It was getting warm.

 

“I've always had a lot of alien friends. That's why the SFPP know me.”

 

“They don't register humans,” Zitao said and finally moved away. “It's good to keep doctors like you a secret.”

 

Yes it was. Yixing wiped himself off though Zitao hadn't actually touched him. His skin was tingling though. “I met your partner. He took the briefcase.”

 

“He wasn't suppose to,” Zitao said. “He's off for the rest of the month because of your friend. His main job is at the SFPP.”

 

“And you don't work for the SFPP?” Yixing asked.

 

“I'm human. They only have so many slots for human officials. You have to have science and engineering degrees to get in. Otherwise, you’re just a soldier.”

 

Yixing knew that, but he didn't know what the MIB really was. “Is Zitao your real name?”

 

“Huang Zitao,” he replied.

 

“Is it alright for you to tell me that?” Yixing asked.

 

Zitao looked back at Yixing. His eyes were piercing. “You're harmless.”

 

Yixing's whole body relaxed, but he felt disappointed in that reassurance. “You said you're undercover. You should get back to work.”

 

“I am working,” Zitao said and suddenly moved closer to Yixing wrapping his arm around his waist. “Come with me.”

 

Yixing pressed a hand against Zitao's chest on reflex. His index finger touched against the bare spot of his chest and Yixing could feel the soft hairs there. “W-why?”

 

“I was looking for an alibi to be here. I got in easily, but a human wandering alone without alien friends looks suspicious.”

 

“So you want me to come with you?” Yixing asked. “And do what exactly?”

 

“Flirt,” Zitao said and led Yixing back to the elevators.

 

Yixing was stunned for words. He glanced back to see that Yifan and Minseok had moved to the bar. They were both looking at him with worried glances. Yixing gave them a nervous smile which he hoped came off more as shy than unsure. It wasn't as if he hadn't gone off with guys at the club before, but he was usually a bit more drunk by then. The elevator ride up was silent. They arrived at the third floor before Yixing spoke up.

 

“How am I supposed to do this?” he asked. Yixing was a doctor, not a police officer or even a businessman. He could act a bit, but being fake was not his style.

 

Zitao answered by rearranging his grip on Yixing's waist so it was lower, more on his hip, and leaned into him to talk. His voice was actually quite high pitched, but it was husky against Yixing's ear. “You just be yourself. If you're uncomfortable then act uncomfortable. If you're flattered then enjoy it. For as much as you're concerned, I followed you here to hit on you.”

 

Yixing knew that wasn't true. He wanted to know who Zitao was looking for, why he wasn't looking for him anymore, if he could help even though he didn't need the MIB on his plate of duties as well. But, then Zitao sniffed him.

 

“You smell really good.”

 

Yixing's whole body shivered and he smiled. “Th...My roommate buys feminine body washes.”

 

“Ohhh...kay,” Zitao said looking at Yixing with a raised brow before suddenly grinning and he turned away to laugh into his free hand.

 

Yixing was caught off guard by the laugh. It was so pure and different than what he expected from someone of the MIB. This Zitao guy was kind of adorable.

 

“You're cute,” Yixing blurted out.

 

Zitao lowered his hand, still smiling. “You think so? Do you like guys Dr. Zhang?”

 

“Yes,” Yixing said perhaps too quickly. “Sometimes I also like girls.”

 

Zitao chuckled and started to pull Yixing towards the tables on the third floor. “How about I buy the doctor a drink?”

 

“Yixing,” Yixing corrected. “If you're going to flirt with me, call me Yixing. Everyone teases me with doctor.”

 

Zitao pulled out a chair at the first available seat then walked to one side and leaned against the table. “Alright, Yixing~, what would you like to drink?”

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

One brandy and two fruity shots later, Yixing felt nimble and warm. Zitao had pulled him onto the dance floor and was moving his hips like any other guy buying Yixing drinks would. It took a bit of clarity for Yixing to remember this was all a cover up. For the most part, Zitao kept his eyes on Yixing, and they were dark and amused, gentle when he actually touched Yixing, but burning at other times. Sometimes, though, Yixing caught Zitao looking at one of the rooms off to the side of the third floor. He assumed that's where Zitao's target was, but who or what it was, Yixing couldn't be sure and he couldn't enjoy himself when he kept wondering.

 

He wasn't sure if he was really allowed to.

 

Someone bumped into Yixing and he fell forward against Zitao. The other man caught him with arms around Yixing's waist. He was frowning when Yixing looked up at him.

 

“Are you alright? You should sit down,” Zitao said and began to lead Yixing back to their table. As he helped Yixing, his attention was pulled away by the door to the room he was watching opening. Out walked a group of young men and women all dressed in expensive brands with sunglasses on and in human form unable to tell if they were or not.

 

“Are you going after them?” Yixing asked as Zitao slid his arm away.

 

“I'll send some water up,” Zitao responded.

 

Yixing grabbed onto his arm. “Let me come with you.”

 

“That's not a good idea. You're not part of this. I was suppose to make you forget you'd met me that night, but my equipment had stopped working,” Zitao said.

 

“I already know about the SFPP and now I know about you. Besides, if you've been hitting me up all night and then suddenly leave this early, they're going to be suspicious. I'm not drunk and my friends haven't come looking for me,” Yixing said.

 

Zitao seemed conflicted, but he turned away from Yixing. “Fine, do what you want.”

 

Yixing wanted to go home, but he also wanted to see if Zitao was pouting. He had his arms crossed and his back hunched. Yixing stood and slid one of his arms into Zitao's. The agent let his arms fall to the side and Yixing twined their fingers together and nudged Zitao.

 

They got into the elevator with the second half of the group. One of the young people were carrying a rather large bag in their arms, held tightly. There had been a couple in the first group with similar bags. Zitao stayed close to Yixing in a corner of the elevator whispering into his ear. The group seemed disgusted by them. Many alien races were hermaphroditic or agendered, but those who were born and grew up in certain Earthling countries may hold the same prejudice against same sexed relationships and Earthling spawn. Either way, Yixing’s reactions to Zitao's whispering were real. He didn't understand half of what the other was saying, but he would slip into Chinese when he wanted to say something about the people around them and Yixing buckled just hearing the language he had originally learned being whispered like that. He was born and raised to the age of six in China before moving to South Korea. He had learned many alien languages as well and he giggled whenever Zitao seemed to run out of things to whisper and said something in an alien language that was suppose to sound sexy, but was just a child's saying. He probably looked like a human pretending to know more than he did about aliens in order to get into another human's pants.

 

They got off the elevator first when it stopped on the bottom floor. Yixing didn't bother looking around for his friends as he was led out by their entwined fingers into the cooling night air. Zitao led them to an alley a few stores down and pushed him roughly against crates. Yixing gasped, but his mouth was suddenly covered by Zitao's hand. He could hear the group coming closer.

 

“I apologize for this,” Zitao said before his other hand was suddenly on Yixing's crotch, rubbing it.

 

“Wh-what?” Yixing muffled out and grabbed onto Zitao's hand.

 

“Moan. I need to attract attention. They're aware of me,” Zitao said and removed his hand from Yixing’s mouth, but kept his other hand’s movements eventually just unbuttoning Yixing’s pants and pushing his hand down Yixing’s boxers.

 

Yixing moaned. He moaned and let his eyes flutter close. It felt good, someone else's hand around his penis stroking him, pressing on just the right spots. It was always Yixing's own hand since he started spending nights at Yifan's place. Suddenly, Zitao's other hand was on Yixing's neck and his fingers pressed into a spot Yixing didn't even know he had that made him shiver and moan as if he was close to his release. He wasn't. He had so much more to build up before he could explode.

 

Was he being too loud?

 

Faintly, Yixing was aware of the group. They were leaving except one person. They were whispering something. There was a click. They ran.

 

“Zitao,” Yixing moaned. He tried to keep the man's name quiet.

 

“Yixing, in three, I want you to run towards the alley. Don't look behind you. Trust me that I'll stop it before it hurts you,” Zitao whispered.

 

Yixing managed to open his eyes to see Zitao's eyes serious, all business. He pulled his hands away and Yixing felt like jello, but he knew he was suppose to run. If he had been finished off, he wouldn't be able to run, but he really wished Zitao would have finished him off. Yixing closed his eyes again and regained strength the moment he heard the growling.

 

“Zitao?” Yixing asked. His heart was starting to race and his chest felt heavy. The agent was nowhere insight, gone the moment Yixing had closed his eyes. Yixing glanced to his left and saw just the head of the creature growling ever closer around the corner of the crates. It was the most stereotypical alien Yixing had ever seen. Its skin was taut and gray and it crawled on all fours like a gorilla, but it was skinny and only the size of a large dog. Its head was bubbled up as if it had a larger than normal brain, but Yixing knew the anatomy of this nightmarish creature and that wasn't a brain. Veins bulged out on the large growth making patterns almost beautifully grotesque resembling a crown. It only had to growl once more before Yixing started to run.

 

The alley was a dead end. Yixing didn't know why Zitao would want him to run into a dead end. He had said to trust him, though. Either Yixing was an idiot or Zitao had a plan and Yixing was still an idiot for letting himself be used like this. The alien wasn't any faster than a normal dog. But, Yixing was pretty agile. When he got close to the wall, Yixing jumped. His feet landed high and he pushed back off jumping over the dog like alien just as it leaped to where Yixing had been. Its clawed feet hit the wall and it turned its body like a cat's coming back at Yixing, but as it jumped, something whizzed by Yixing's head and straight at the alien. It exploded at the midriff and Yixing watched green blood splatter around the alleyway turning red as it landed against concrete. He looked down at the creature. It's bottom half was limp, but its top half was still growling and crawling towards Yixing. Zitao suddenly appeared and pushed Yixing behind him. He had on his sunglasses and gloves and held a silver gun in one hand pointed towards the alien's bulbous head.

 

“Crownoids are so messy,” Zitao said. He flicked his gunless hand and a blue virtual shield appeared from his watch. He held it out in front of them both and shot at the alien's head. It gave one doglike cry before its head exploded sending out an acrid liquid every which way. The liquid sizzled against the concrete and melted a few millimeters of the buildings and walls around them before drying up. Zitao lowered the shield and walked up to the dead alien. He kicked its head with his shoe and more liquid spilled onto the concrete. “I'm going to have to let it dry out before I get the clean up crew out here.”

 

“That was a Crownoid?” Yixing asked.

 

“You know of them?” Zitao pulled out a phone from his pants and started taking pictures and typing away.

 

“They're doglike creatures from a planet that has a very thick and cloudy atmosphere. They don't do well with high levels of oxygen and dry up when exposed to too many UV rays. They are actually prey creatures and their bulbous heads are a counterattack after being killed or bitten.”

 

“And they’re prone to suicide attacks if cornered,” Zitao added. “You know a lot.”

 

“I've had to treat wounds from their poison before,” Yixing said.

 

“They're not bad animals,” Zitao said. “The high ranking aliens from their planet keep them as pets, but they can't survive on earth. The SFPP only brings specimens to be examined. They're smuggled in live capsules.”

 

“Moblie wormhole capsules? Those are expensive,” Yixing said.

 

“That's what those bags had in them,” Zitao said. “Do you understand the sort of work I do now, Dr. Zhang Yixing?”

 

“You're the Men in Black. I knew the kind of work you did the moment you said it. You're like 007.”

 

“Nothing quite that romantic,” Zitao chuckled and turned to Yixing. He twirled his gun, a forced coldness in his eyes as he stared Yixing down. “Crownoids are one of the least intelligent things I've killed and I've killed more than I can count.”

 

Yixing stared at Zitao, and his lanky but muscular frame, at the deep v-line of his half opened shirt and the thin stretch of dark hairs there and wondered how low they went down on his torso. He stared at Zitao's hand holding that silver gun still and admired the skillfulness of his long fingers with the trigger as well as with Yixing's triggers in his pants and on his neck. He was filled with a shudder. Zitao caught the reaction and his expression was filled with a sad satisfaction.

 

Zitao was wrong.

 

Yixing moved forward before he could register the stirring inside him. He grabbed Zitao's face and pulled it towards his smashing his lips against the agent's. They were rough, but they were sweet and they reacted before Zitao could kissing back for a good ten seconds before pulling away in a surprised huff. Zitao was wide eyed, arms out to the side held up caught between a surrender and grasping Yixing back. He'd dropped his gun. He was completely defenseless and Yixing felt empowered.

 

And shy.

 

“I...thought you were cool,” Yixing said, face warm and glasses askew.

 

Zitao blinked at Yixing then licked his lips. “You thought...you thought I looked cool so you kissed me?”

 

“Uh, yes,” Yixing said. He might have still had a bit of alcohol in his system, but that would have been an excuse.

 

Zitao brought a hand to his face. “I was trying to look threatening, not cool. You're suppose to be scared of me.”

 

“I'm not,” Yixing admitted. “I mean, I was scared, but not of you. You saved me and that was pretty cool. If you wanted me to be scared, you would have broken into my apartment and roughed me up to get that briefcase, not held out until I returned it to you. THat’s why Jongin took it himself. Plus, the stalking was weird, but you always left like a kicked puppy.”

 

“I'm not a kicked puppy,” Zitao complained then groaned. “You're just...weird.”

 

Yixing shrugged. “It's not the first time I've heard that.”

 

Zitao sighed. “That's not what I mean. I've killed people, Yixing.”

 

“And I'm a doctor,” Yixing countered. “I'm not unfamiliar with the concept of life and death. You don't become a good doctor without experiencing a few disasterous screw ups.”

 

Zitao stared at Yixing before turning around and squatting to pick up his gun. “Go home with that Dracos and his boyfriend. Those kids with the bags saw your face. He can protect you for tonight.”

 

“Zitao?” Yixing called. Zitao wasn't looking at him, but the skin on his ears around his many piercings was red.

 

“Go, I've gotta call someone to come clean up this mess.”

 

Yixing nodded and turned to find his friends. There was a smile tugging on his lips. He thought perhaps he had made the agent blush.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

“Dr. Zhang.”

 

“Dr. Zhang Yixing.”

 

“Hey, Xing Xing! That's it.”

 

Yixing jumped when he felt something warm against his neck. Turning around, he saw a furrowed eyed Kim Junmyeon. The other doctor smiled finally getting Yixing's attention and moved to the seat opposite him in the cafeteria. Junmyeon pulled out a warmed container of kimchi spaghetti and placed his phone on the table beside it. Yixing stared at the food then stared at his own convenience store lunchbox and frowned.

 

“Does Kyungsoo know how to make anything other than spaghetti?” Yixing asked.

 

Junmyeon looked at his own food. “Well, he tries. He's gotten better at it. It might not seem like it, but he tries to be like a little wife.”

 

“He'd punch you if he heard you say that.”

 

Junmyeon sighed smiling. “It'd be worth it.”

 

Yixing just shook his head and poked at his food. He wasn’t particularly hungry. He thought maybe food would distract his thoughts.

 

“Hey, Yixing, would you be able to take my shift tomorrow? The director said I could get it off if you covered me,” Junmyeon said.

 

It was rare that Yixing was scheduled two nights off in a week. It wasn't as if he had plans, but he was tired. The night with Zitao had really drained him. Why had he kissed him? Why had he wanted to go along with him? Yixing was bored, that was the only answer he could give himself other than the obvious, but he had found other guys good looking and not been as risky in his actions as he had been that night. Sure he was a pushover for Junmyeon, but he was a pushover for anyone that he cared about romantic or not. Yixing didn't want to be a pushover for the MIB agent. He had been standing his ground against Zitao until he stuck his hand down Yixing's pants.

 

“What do you need it off for?” Yixing asked.

 

Junmyeon's eyes started to twinkle and Yixing regretted his question when Junmyeon pulled out a small velvet box and opened it. Yixing used all his energy to keep his face neutral as he stared at the matching diamond encrusted silver bands inside. They were men's rings, but Yixing could guess what they were suppose to symbolize.

 

“You're proposing?” Yixing asked.

 

“I know, I know, I should just ask off some time next month, but Kyungsoo was hinting at it all month and I finally caught him looking at these rings. I had been debating what sort of jewelry to get as a proposal. Kyungsoo isn't the feminine sort, but I wanted him to have something pretty because love is beautiful, don't you agree, Yixing?”

 

Yixing did agree, but he couldn't say from experience. “I like them.”

 

Junmyeon smiled wider and put the box back in his pocket. “I figured instead of something fancy and spontaneous, I would just seduce him when he gets home and pop the question. I want to see his surprised look. I'll have to order take out, though, since I suck at cooking.”

 

Yixing's lips twisted up thinking about Junmyeon's proposal. Kyungsoo was lucky. “He'll say yes.”

 

“I'm confident he will,” Junmyeon said, but the glow died a bit from his eyes. “I still can't help but be nervous about it. My mother loves Kyungsoo, but my father still doesn't approve of me being with a man though he did stop threatening me and has been talking to me again. I think that is mainly due to the fact my sister-in-law is pregnant with another boy. Now they have one to take over the family business and one to take over the hospital.”

 

“I don't understand rich families,” Yixing said. “They choose your career for you.”

 

Junmyeon sighed. “Yes, but I wanted to be a doctor. Isn't your mother a scientist?”

 

Yixing picked at his food some more. “Yes. My career choice was encouraged.”

 

“Does your father know you're one of Seoul's greatest doctors?” Junmyeon asked.

 

Yixing shrugged. “He's a Chinese cop, I don't think he knows much of what goes on here.”

 

Junmyeon nodded and went silent eating his food. He was regretting the conversation. Yixing didn't want Junmyeon to regret talking to him. His parents were a sore subject, but Yixing had heard Junmyeon almost yell about his father's disapproval for years.

 

“I kissed a guy the other night,” Yixing said finally.

 

Junmyeon perked up. “Oh?”

 

“I went to a club with Kim Minseok and his boyfriend. He stuck his hands down my pants,” Yixing said. “We got interrupted.”

 

“You let some random guy touch you?” Junmyeon asked disapproval already relevant.

 

“I've run into him a few times before,” Yixing said. Quite literally.

 

“Well, are you interested? What's he like?”

 

Huang Zitao? Yixing barely knew the man. “He's Chinese. I think he might be younger than me. He's not much taller, but he's always changing his hair color. He has ear piercings and dark circles and a really cool glare. And chest hair.”

 

Junmyeon's disapproval grew. “He sounds like a punk.”

 

Yixing supposed so. He did think that of Zitao at first. He definitely wasn't harmless, but Yixing couldn't imagine the agent hurting a fly without a proper reason. “I don't know. I wouldn't have kissed him if he was bad news.”

 

“Why did you kiss him?” Junmyeon asked.

 

“He...was really cool,” Yixing answered and stopped picking at his food.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are Appreciated.


	5. I'm a Doctor

**5\. I’m A Doctor**

 

    “So you'll need to go to your pharmacist and hand them this. Also, make sure to buy latex-free bandages if you cut yourself again,” Yixing said handing a slip of paper to one of the emergency patients.

 

The man thanked Yixing and held out a bandaged hand to take the slip before switching. “Oh, I guess I'll have to use my left hand for now.”

 

“Yes. Perhaps the next time you try fancy knife tricks you will actually be able to use your left hand,” Yixing teased.

 

The man laughed and left the room, Yixing following after with paperwork to give the front desk.

 

As any Friday night went, the ER was full of patients. Yixing almost wished he hadn't agreed to take Junmyeon's shift, but for how many life threatening emergencies there were, they were doing fine. Yixing had stitched up more patients than he had since starting at the hospital and had delivered his first baby in a month as Minseok was taking care of a premature delivery and couldn't be spared. The oddest thing had been a teenage boy with a burn on his penis from candle wax. There had been an older man hanging around in the ER as Yixing had examined him that kept looking their way and the boy seemed to follow him out. Not old enough to be his father, though. Yixing kept quiet about those sorts of things. He'd already had five call ins that week from XDAs all about their partners being broken. Yixing expected that out of mating week, though. And Baekhyun had mentioned doing a house call for a Dracos and XDA pairing where the Draconia Transformative couldn't pull out. The paramedic had then began to question Yixing about how big Yifan could get while holding his fingers in the shape of the stuck Draco. He had later told Yixing that Minseok swore he had ridden Yifan at the same girth if not bigger.

 

It had been an odd week. Odd weeks were preferable over disastrous weeks.

 

“More stitches?” one of the nurses asked as Yixing handed her the file.

 

“I should learn how to sew actual clothes,” Yixing joked.

 

“You have such a damper style in your normal clothing, Dr. Zhang, I'm sure you would be a successful fashion designer as well.” She handed him another file.

 

“That's only because I shop where the other doctors do. If I have to dress the price I'm going to make sure someone who knows what they're doing is dressing me,” Yixing said looking over the new documents. “What's this?”

 

“Dr. Kim Junmyeon left it here for you if you had some down time. He said you were interested in studying more freak cases.”

 

Yixing nodded and took the file, eyes already absorbing the information. Most of the termed 'freak cases' were actually just weird human slip ups, but sometimes there was something alien about them. Yixing knew more than most everyday hospital doctors did on alien anatomy and medicine, but there were still times he was surprised and there was always more to learn. He had just taken a step towards the back to grab a quick cup of coffee before proceeding with more stitches when he felt the sudden rumble of the earth.

 

“Earthquake?” Yixing walked back out into the ER to see his co-workers and patients looking around curiously. Maybe a car crash. He turned to the nurses. “Get everyone ready for a swarm. It sounds like something big just happened.”

 

One of the nurses rolled her eyes. “I thought we would have a quiet Friday for once. Good thing we have you, Dr. Zh-AH!”

 

The whole hospital shook as another rumble came, closer this time. Yixing grabbed onto the counter to steady himself. The air was still again. Yixing's eyes widened when he heard the sounds of an airplane rushing past, but they weren't close enough to an airport.

 

“Get down!” he yelled.

 

The impact of the explosion was almost enough to shatter the glass of the hospital, but he hadn't heard the actual crash, just the throw back.

 

“I'll be right back. Keep everyone away from the windows,” Yixing said as he headed for the ER exit.

 

“Wait, Dr. Zhang!”

 

Outside, the air was quiet. There were a few people about looking around confused and cowering on the ground, but only a few trails of smoke gave any sign of a bomb's debris. Yixing caught sight of Baekhyun by one of the ambulances looking just as terrified, nails digging into his own skin to keep from glowing in self defense. He was looking up at the sky and Yixing followed his line of sight to see a distortion in the dark blanket of stars. At first it was as if someone had taken a brush and swirled it in a circle smearing a point in the sky, but then symbols revealed themselves briefly before a circular metal object was shot out of the distortion. The aircraft noise from before rang in Yixing's ears again as the object moved towards the hospital only to disappear as another distortion appeared in its path.

 

There was an alien war going on somewhere in the SFPP discovered universe and they were using earth as a median to pass their surprise bombs through via wormholes. The SFPP would be here soon. No, the Men in Black. They were most likely already here. If anyone not already associated with aliens spotted those wormholes, the MIB would have to erase their memories. That was what Zitao tried to do to Yixing in the subway. Wormhole bombs were illegal especially when Earth was used as a median, a planet protected as much as possible from the knowledge of life outside of this solar system.

 

Yixing could hear sirens rushing towards them from the distance. He looked around to guess where the next wormhole would appear. Yixing saw a distortion above an alley next to the hospital and headed there. It was just as he rounded the corner that Yixing noticed the wormhole was smaller than the ones the bombs had been traveling through. The symbols that appeared around it were different as well as what fell out. At first, Yixing just saw dark cloth followed by legs. A person. They held a gun in one hand and shot into the wormhole, poncho like cape bellowing around them as they fell. Their shot blasted into the hole and was responded by a long white hot harpoon like weapon hurling through the wormhole after the falling figure. It pierced them and they screamed. Yixing hurried forward. The white hot pole of the harpoon was just shy of two meters and more than one meter of the alien weapon had gone through the person and pierced the concrete ground of the alley keeping the victim from suffering fall damage on top of all the other wounds they had and they had many.

 

Even during Yixing's first procedure, he had not felt this nervous. He approached the figure cautiously as he watched blood slide down the pole now cooled to a dark gray, lines of alien energy still burning at its core. The figure skewered on it groaned and turned their head. Dark glasses fell from their face and they blinked at Yixing with cloudy eyes. The shock of pain was the only thing keeping them from screaming, or perhaps it just hurt too much. Yixing reached forward and grabbed a handful of the dark cloth of the poncho, a familiar piece of clothing even though Yixing had only seen it a couple times so he could get a better look at the damage the weapon had caused.

 

Yixing had been right, the Men in Black would be here soon. He didn’t think they were suppose to arrive like this, though.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

“Get an operating table set up stat!”

 

“Dr. Zhang! Oh thank goodness you're back,” one of the nurses started. “We suddenly got an influx of minor injuries, but they're all so terrified. It'll be only a matter of time before more serious cases get brought in.”

 

“I have a serious case right here. I need to operate ASAP!” Yixing yelled and shifted the figure on his back.

 

The nurse seemed to finally register what Yixing had said and left. She came back with a gurney and Yixing laid Zitao down onto it trying not to look at the agent's gaping chest. “Get him stabilized. I'll be in in a few minutes.”

 

Yixing watched as Zitao was whisked off. He felt relieved, but also more anxious without the weight of the injured agent on his back. It had been a risk to pull Zitao off the weapon and run back to the hospital, but he couldn't do what he needed to when there was no one else around to help him. The faint breaths against Yixing's neck as he jogged back to the hospital were the only things telling Yixing Zitao was still alive. The harpoon had pierced major arteries. He was bleeding out. And he had metal poisoning from alien bullets and laser shots all over his body from the fighting he had been doing before falling out of the wormhole. He needed to hurry and get ready for the operation. Zitao was already doing all he could.

 

Yixing did a shoddy job of cleaning up. He hurried into the prepared operating room in a hurry barely letting the nurses help him with his gloves. Zitao's pulse was weak. “Did someone give him any pain killers?”

 

“No. Should we call for an anesthesiologist?” one of the nurses asked.

 

“No, we don't have time. If he starts screaming that would be a good sign.”

 

“He looks like he's poisoned,” another pointed out.

 

“He is, but we'll focus on the larger wound first,” Yixing said. He pulled out a vial from a little cart and filled a syringe with its liquid before handing that to a nurse. “Shoot a couple milliliters of this into each wound that is turning green while I get started.”

 

But where would Yixing get started? He looked closely at the wound and began to cut flesh away so he could make a better examination of the internal damage. It was bad. “Someone suck up this blood.”

 

“Doctor, the infection from the poison seems to have stopped,” the nurse with the syringe said.

 

“Good,” Yixing said. “I need to start stitching the arteries back together.”

 

“Sir, he looks pale,” another said and the machines Zitao was hooked up to started beeping.

 

No, no no no. Yixing had known. He'd known. It wasn't the first time someone had been too far beyond repair in his operating room. Yixing could try and continue the mending rationally, but he knew Zitao, at least, he wanted to know Zitao. This man had had his hand down Yixing's pants only a week ago.

 

“Everyone out,” Yixing said.

 

“But, Dr. Zhang,” one of the nurses protested.

 

Yixing looked up at the others in the room. “Everyone out, but him.” He pointed at one of the new residents. The poor young man looked scared shitless. “I'm going to need you Mr. XDA.” The young man's eyes widened and he nodded before urging the others out.

 

“What are you going to do?” the resident asked.

 

“Heal him. I'm a doctor after all,” Yixing said. “I'm going to need you to wrap stuff up if I pass out. Also, you need to let enough time pass by before dragging me out of here. Can you do that?”

 

“What if it doesn't work?” the man asked.

 

“The only one who is going to come out of here worse for ware is me,” Yixing said. “Stand back.”

 

The resident took position at the door and Yixing took in a deep breath. This was never easy. Unlike other doctors, Yixing had a choice when it came to saving people, but his choice came with a price. His very life came with a price. Yixing removed his gloves then rubbed his hands together as the machines kept beeping. He placed one hand over Zitao's face and tilted his head to the side revealing the agent's neck. With his other hand, he drove it into Zitao's chest and grabbed his heart. It wasn't moving.

 

“I’m going to need to get to his blood stream quick. Don't look,” Yixing told the resident before opening his mouth wide and buried his teeth into an artery in Zitao's neck.

 

Concentration was hard when the taste of iron filled Yixing's mouth. Forcing his body to make cells and transferring them to another person wasn't easy. He pushed his saliva into Zitao's veins encouraging his white blood cells to fight the poison still inhabiting Zitao’s body while his hand melted into the agent's heart repairing the arteries. The beeping on the monitors stopped. For a moment, Yixing's heart stopped with the machine. His powers had never not worked, but he had no confidence in them either. A calming whirring started up again and Yixing pulled away from Zitao’s neck with a sigh before waving his free hand at the table set beside him.

 

“Scalpel.”

 

The resident hurried over and handed Yixing the scalpel. Yixing reached into Zitao and started cutting his hand away from Zitao's heart. It was gruesome and hurt. Yixing was sweating. “Do the clean up and close him. Make sure...make sure there's...”

 

Yixing didn't realize he was swaying until the resident caught him and dragged him over to a chair in the operating room. “I understand, Dr. Zhang. Just rest, you've done well.”

 

Yixing nodded and reached into his pocket with his uninjured hand. He pulled out his inhaler and took deep pulls of the medicine inside while staring at his mutilated hand. Slowly, skin grew back on the angry bleeding red flesh and he could move it with ease. That was when he began to feel nauseous. Yixing tried to curl up, but he was throwing up in a corner before he could catch himself. His mouth tasted disgusting, but he forced himself to take more swigs from his inhaler as he fought the sickness until they had both reached an equilibrium and he could breath. Yixing sat against the wall holding himself as he watched the resident close up the agent.

 

Zitao.

 

Had he done the right thing?

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

The SFPP showed up not long after Zitao had gotten situated in a room. Yixing had gathered himself together enough to start treating other patients waiting in the ER for minor injuries from the shrapnel and blasts of the wormholing bombs. He had to make sure anyone that mentioned them stayed in the waiting room until their memory could be wiped. They had two tall men dressed in black hoodies and snapbacks walking around flashing people with their phones. To anyone else, they must have appeared to be just troublesome youths brought in by curiosity of the havoc going on near and around the hospital, but Yixing could tell they were like Zitao.

 

“Dr. Zhang?” one of the SFPP officers called.

 

Yixing sighed and urged the patient he had just picked up to head into an examination room ahead of him before walking over to the officer. “How may I help you?”

 

“Huang Zitao, we'll be taking him back now,” the officer said.

 

“You can't take him yet, I just got him stabilized up in a room,” Yixing said.

 

“As long as he is stabilized then he will survive the transition into our medical facilities. You are aware of the advancements of other societies' equipment.”

 

Yixing softened his voice and kept it just above a whisper. “You are not the only one with Layan medical equipment within a ten mile radius of here.”

 

The officer frowned. “Who? We have no records of any Layans close by.”

 

Yixing crossed his arms. “Because there aren't any. I'll make my report to the higher ups as soon as this ER has been cleared. As for agent Z.T, he's going to have to stay close by for the next twenty-four hours. He should wake up in the next two. You may speak to him then.”

 

The SFPP officer didn't look pleased, but he did not argue with Yixing further and went back to overlooking the human police and the MIB agents. Yixing continued with cleaning up patients until the early morning.

 

“I'm going to check on the patient from the surgery earlier. Have the others check over anyone else. If they come in about the explosions, have them talk to Officer Xi over there,” Yixing said pointing to an SFPP officer as he passed the nurse's station in the ER.

 

“Yes, Dr. Zhang.”

 

Yixing headed to the nearest elevator with a clipboard in hand. When the doors closed, he leaned back and sighed. He was tired, but Yixing wouldn't be headed home early and he would have to be back later tomorrow and the same for the next four days. He sighed again. It was becoming hard to catch his breath, but he was almost out of the medicine in his inhaler. He still felt queasy from taking so much earlier. He needed to stay calm.

 

Had Junmyeon managed to propose? Yixing hoped so. And he hoped Kyungsoo said yes. They would probably go to America for their marriage papers, but maybe they would have a reception here in Seoul some time after. The thought of seeing his fellow co-worker happy with another man had never been as appealing as it was right then. The tightness in his chest eased up and Yixing walked off the elevator onto the floor where Zitao had been placed.

 

The room had a no visitors sign on as well as a card placed in the slot by the SFPP when they came by. They couldn't have all the staff poking their head in to check on the mysterious man that Yixing had carried in on his back. Yixing shouldn't have. If it wasn't for the poison slowing down Zitao's body and numbing it, he wouldn't have survived the shock of being pulled off the weapon or being worked on, but it had also made it harder to work on him. There were alien metals that most species outside the home planet reacted badly with and they were outlawed by the SFPP.

 

Yixing opened the door and walked in. Zitao looked worse for ware. He had IVs and a breathing machine hooked up all around him. All the monitors looked steady and Yixing jotted down the numbers on his clipboard as he got close. There was a note that Zitao had woken up on the file in the room as well as gibberish from the SFPP that Yixing took. It appeared the agent had chosen to go back to sleep, though. Yixing was half relieved and half disappointed. He clicked his pen closed and turned to leave.

 

“Yixing? You finally came by.”

 

Yixing turned back to see Zitao trying to rub his eyes with IV pierced hands before giving up and just looking at Yixing tiredly. “I haven't been in a human hospital in years.”

 

“I apologize for the inconvenience,” Yixing said and moved forward. He took one of Zitao's hands and removed the IVs. “You don't actually need most of this stuff, but it helps.”

 

“Oh, how...how did I get here?” Zitao asked.

 

“Did the SFPP not tell you?” Yixing pulled out a bandage from his pocket and placed it over the wound from the IV.

 

“They just asked me about my mission and wanted to know what went wrong. I got harpooned.”

 

Yixing nodded. “I saw that. I went outside and saw the wormholes. I saw you fall out of one. Then I saw you almost die. I pulled you off and carried you here on my back.”

 

“I feel ill,” Zitao said.

 

“You'll feel like that for a while,” Yixing said.

 

“Is it from the bullets? I should have some antidote for metal poisoning,” Zitao said.

 

“I administered that right away. The harpoon caught most of your major arteries as well as some of the muscle in your heart and you had already suffered a major beating. You were bleeding out. It was thanks to the alien metal that you survived long enough to get to an operating table. It didn't look good, Zitao.”

 

Zitao moved his free hand to his chest. “I don't feel anything. My heart is beating fine.”

 

“I could have either fought against time with the poison and the mending or I could have replaced everything wrong. I chose replacement, Zitao. I chose to heal you without any risk to yourself,” Yixing said. “I don't do it often.”

 

Zitao's eyes narrowed as they looked over Yixing then he reached a hand to his neck. There were bandages to cover up where Yixing had bitten him. “Layan healing.”

 

“Yes,” Yixing said.

 

“Gene splicing. That's why I feel odd?”

 

Yixing took a step back and looked Zitao over. “Yes. You are still getting use to the new cells. I do apologize that they're taking longer than they should to meld, I don't often take the easy way out in surgeries particularly on a life or death platform.”

 

Zitao sat up. “You did this! I have your DNA in me? That can't be possible. My documents didn't say anything about you being Layan. Your mother is a social worker for the SFPP. I researched...ow!”

 

Zitao’s hand went to one of his other IVs as he tugged on it in too much excitement. Yixing reached out with a click of his tongue and unhooked that one as well adding on another bandage.

 

“If I’m correct, my papers also say I was adopted.” Yixing sighed and pushed Zitao down against the hospital bed. “Don't worry about all that right now. Just get your rest. If you're still interested in figuring me out when you're discharged then I can't complain, but for now, don't risk my sacrifice. I don't have much confidence in what I did.”

 

Zitao frowned, but settled down.

 

“How are you feeling otherwise? You can feel everything, right?”

 

“Yes. I have bruises everywhere. I can feel them,” Zitao complained.

 

“Get those taken care of by your agents if they’re not gone by the time you’re released. Get some rest and if you're hungry call a nurse.”

 

“Yixing, are you a Layan?” Zitao asked.

 

Yixing jotted a few more notes onto his clipboard. “No.” He turned and started towards the door.

 

“Yixing,” Zitao called out once more.

 

Yixing stopped.

 

“Thank you, Yixing. I...still want to fight, so...thank you for whatever you did.”

 

Yixing turned his head back. Zitao's fists were held tight in the sheets of his hospital bed and he was looking down at his lap. Yixing smiled. “I'm a doctor, Zitao, I have to at least try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are Appreciated.


	6. I Did This To Myself

**6\. I Did This To Myself**

 

    Yixing was a hybrid.

 

By Layan standards, he wasn't a Layan. He had never once said he was out of respect for the people he shared DNA with. Layans were a haughty species, but peaceful. Most worked for the SFPP in science labs trying to discover how other species could reach the same level of medicine they had. A Layan's biological makeup was very plant like. On their home planet, carbon dioxide levels were higher, however, sunlight was dim. All livestock and plants grew very small. The Layans eventually learned how to do what was dubbed as a type of gene splicing within their own bodies and eventually they could fuse their bodies with others. Instead of killing a whole creature to eat, they would cut parts of it then heal it back up. Animals produced carbon dioxide which Layans needed to breath and produced meat so the Layans could eat. Any animal found still alive, they would heal. But, their powers weren't originally for healing.

 

Yixing was male.

 

Layans were agender. Unlike XDAs who were created with both parts, Layans had neither. They did have sex, but it was strictly for pleasure and mostly psychological. When two Layans decided a child created between them would result in a strong offspring, they would splice a set of their genes together and one Layan would carry the child until it ripped out of them. That was another reason they learned to heal.

 

Yixing often had nightmares concerning alien births. When he lived with his Layan parent, they would remind Yixing they had cut their own stomach open just so Yixing could live. Yixing wasn't born with the sharp claw like nails Layans had. He wasn't born with a green tinge to his skin. And he wasn't born breathing. His Layan parent had healed him and he had been a sick baby for a long time. He had been nothing but a nuisance to the alien he considered his mother. That was why they had come to Seoul when Yixing was six. There was a woman his mother considered a friend that had adopted Yixing when he was born. She lived on and off with him and his Layan parent in China until the move to Seoul and his mother had left and returned to the SFPP to continue their studies. At the time, Yixing hadn't shown any signs of Layan abilities. As long as he used his inhaler a few times a week, he was like any other sickly human boy.

 

It was middle school when Yixing learned of his healing abilities. There was a dog he played with on his way back from school. However, he often caught children bullying it. It was a small short haired creature who was round in the stomach more often than not. Yixing had never been able to locate any of its litters until then. He had picked up the dog, beaten and barely breathing, and followed its soft whining until he heard high pitched whimpers replying back. They were small, so small. Only three left, but there were signs there had been more. He would have taken the puppies, but his adopted mother already had a large dog at home. Yixing had never been as sad as he had been then. This mother dog was left alone so many times.She had failed so many times. She wanted to take care of her puppies, that was why she took the beatings from the other children. There were always scraps on that street and water to drink if she went out and risked being seen. And Yixing always gave her food. She wanted to be a good dog. Yixing wanted to see her running around with her puppies for once. They were small and cute and not troublesome at all, not like him.

 

He held that mother dog close to his chest and cried, tears dropping into the mother dog's wounds and wished beyond all wishes that he knew how to heal. But, he did, he knew the science of it. His mother had left him books so at least he would know what had given life to him. And in that moment it clicked. He punched a fist repeatedly into the cement of the alleyway until it was a bleeding mess then covered the most major of the dog's wounds with his bleeding hand. His skin melded into the animals. He could see the strands of DNA copying and detaching and reattaching in his mind. It was a slow process, but it worked. However, Yixing hadn't known how to remove himself. He had gone home with a box of puppies either way and had his terrified caretaker cut him free screaming into a cellphone like device at his real mother.

 

Yixing's mother hadn't come for him even after hearing about his achievement. Afterall, he still wasn’t Layan. So, Yixing decided to be a doctor.

 

The woman registered as Yixing's adopted mother was part of the SFPP. She never told them about Yixing's hybrid nature, but they knew he wasn't a normal child. She was the supplier of the medicine in his inhalers and made sure Yixing knew most alien languages. She was very encouraging in Yixing's dream of being a doctor, but Yixing's true mother had always warned him about using his powers. After he had been cut off the dog, he had collapsed for three days and kept home for a month.

 

Yixing was half Layan and half Earhtling. His Layan side hungered for carbon dioxide, but the extra amount of it caused his human side to be sick. The carbon dioxide helped Layans rejuvenate after using their powers. Yixing was always on the fence with his powers. If he did too much he would have to take in more carbon dioxide which would make him sick. His body was in a constant state of turmoil. He wished he could heal everyone that was brought into the hospital, but Yixing had learned when he first started that he would have to pick and choose which cases to use his powers.

 

Life threatening things that weren't immediate were easier for Yixing. He could do a little each time he was visited. On the operating table, he only used the bare minimum when things started to look bad. If he did too much, he wouldn't be able to continue just like what had happened with Zitao. But, he couldn't risk Zitao. Yixing had a low rate of deaths on his record, but he couldn't let Zitao be one.

 

Yixing laid on the couch in the living room of his apartment. He needed to get ready for work, but he could hold off another hour and go to work unstyled. The nurses would understand. The patients wouldn't care as long as he smiled. His adopted mother wouldn't be home for a few more days and Yixing didn't want to dig out his last container of medicine incase another emergency popped up. He felt ill. After napping, it had all come back.

 

“I'm home~”

 

Yixing peeked up at the door to see Luhan walk in dropping a large camera bag on the floor and fixing the beanie on his head. Yixing reached out to him.

 

“You look like shit,” Luhan said walking over and taking Yixing's hand.

 

“I...I did the thing.”

 

Luhan sighed and climbed onto the couch settling behind Yixing. “You're not suppose to do the thing, Yixing, especially when you're stressed and running low on medicine.”

 

Yixing just turned so his face was close to Luhan's and let him breath against him. He wrinkled his nose at his roommate's smell.

 

“Does it stink?” Luhan asked. “Sorry, I ate before coming home.”

 

“At least it doesn't smell like cum,” Yixing said softly.

 

Luhan moved his head and breath against Yixing's neck making the other wriggle on the couch. “Get a boyfriend to do this for you if you're going to complain.”

 

Yixing chuckled then sighed. “Would that be okay?”

 

“Are you interested in someone other than Kim Junmyeon?” Luhan asked. “Why wouldn't it be?”

 

“They’re the reason I’m like this,” Yixing answered.

 

Luhan moved a hand to stroke Yixing’s hair back. “You’re not suppose to fall for your patients, right? Don’t deal with someone that’s going to make you cry or hurt yourself.”

 

“I didn’t meet him as a patient,” Yixing said. “And I did this to myself.”

 

Luhan sighed and pulled Yixing closer. The couch wasn’t at all big enough for them both. “As long as you don’t regret it.”

 

Yixing smiled against Luhan’s shoulder. “I never do.”

 

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( ^ w ^)

 

“Alright, now close your eyes,” Yixing instructed his patient.

 

The middle aged woman did, smiling trustfully at Yixing. Yixing pressed finger against the small cut he had made against her stomach and closed his own eyes as he focused on his DNA becoming hers. It wasn't easy to do this with patients that weren't in surgery. These were illnesses that Layans could help with, but at the risk of humans corrupting the system. Yixing could only do a little at a time, but there had been so many patients like these lately.

 

“There, all done. You'll feel a little woozy for a while. Drink plenty of water and spend some time in the fresh air,” Yixing said. “And make sure to take the medicine like you're told.”

 

The woman stood and thanked Yixing before leaving. Yixing stood as well. His knee shook and he fumbled catching himself against the cot. His new supply of medicine would come tomorrow, his adopted mother had it shipped since her trip was extended. It wasn't the first time Yixing had to extend his medicine, but usually he would go to Yifan to help out. Dracos had high concentrations of carbon dioxide in their bodies. It hadn't been so much about getting Yifan off as it was helping Yixing live. Yixing couldn't do that anymore. And he didn't feel comfortable looking for a random participant. They may try for more and Yixing hadn't...Yixing was male, but he was half Layan, too.

 

For the past few nights, Yixing had just resorted to curling up with Luhan after Jongin had left if he even came over which seemed to be less often since the mating week had ended. Luhan had said Jongin was busy with work. Yixing supposed that was true. He hadn’t seen Zitao about either.

 

Yixing righted himself and shuffled out of the room and back into the main lobby. He stopped by the nurses station. “Do I need to see anyone right now?”

 

“It looks like they're still filling out papers. We'll call someone in another fifteen minutes.”

 

Yixing nodded. “I'll step outside for a moment then. Page me if there is an emergency.”

 

Yixing stepped outside and felt the cool night air meet him like a cool drink. Autumn was finally here. There would be less plants to fight over the carbon dioxide with, but also less to give off oxygen which Yixing couldn't do. He stood staring up at the city lights, eyes wandering over to the spots where wormholes had appeared only a few days ago. The SFPP had covered up the mishap up well. Yixing hadn't even heard a true story of what had happened in the alien community and the Earthlings hadn't brought up the event which meant the two tall MIB guys had done their job properly.

 

How was Zitao?

 

The doctor on duty had signed his release forms with the SFPP's permission. Yixing had come the next day to find the agent already gone. He hadn't seen him since.

 

“Dr. Zhang Yixing.”

 

Yixing turned then smiled. “Have you come for a check up?”

 

Zitao stood behind Yixing. His hair was pink now, but he was wearing the black poncho from when Yixing had first seen him and his sunglasses were rested on top of his head. He was clutching his fists and teeth as he stared back at Yixing and Yixing's smile faltered.

 

“Hybrid,” Zitao said.

 

“Yes,” Yixing responded. “You read my report I see.”

 

Zitao took a couple steps closer until he was forcing Yixing to step back. He was angry, and it surprised Yixing.

 

“You're a hybrid,” Zitao growled.

 

“Yes, Layan hybrid,” Yixing confirmed again.

 

“Fucking hybrid!” Zitao yelled and grabbed Yixing's collar.

 

“W-what's wrong, Zitao?” Yixing asked surprised. Was he going to be hit? There were lots of Earthling hybrids. The SFPP liked hybrids, particularly non Earthling hybrids. Layan-Earthling hybrids were rare for the very reason Yixing was abandoned. They were sickly if they had any Layan abilities at all. It was difficult to splice the genes exactly how you wanted them in general with creating a child, but Earthling genes were the most incompatible.

 

Zitao just stared angrily at Yixing for a few moments more before pulling away. He crossed his arms under the poncho and stared up at the sky taking in deep breaths. “How are you Layan if your mother is an Earthling?”

 

“She's my adopted mother,” Yixing said. “I was adopted by her as soon as I was born, but I wasn't raised by her until I was six. She's a teacher, but she works with the SFPP. The person that gave birth to me is a Layan scientist. She was young when she had me, but she went back to study for the SFPP..”

 

“How did your parent get away with something like that? I researched you in the MIB system and it said nothing about you being Layan. How could I have missed that?”

 

Yixing fixed his necktie that had crumpled under Zitao's grip. “I never used my powers in front of the SFPP. I wasn't very good at it. I self studied. And when it comes to adoption, you can actually hide a lot.”

 

“So you used your powers on me illegally?” Zitao asked.

 

“Yes,” Yixing said. “I illegally use my Layan powers to help people. The SFPP knows I have something up my sleeve, they just can't have accurate information about me. They don't know who my father is even if they have suspicions of my Layan parent. That is until now.”

 

Zitao still seemed angry. “So you're one of the SFPP's secrets?”

 

“I suppose so,” Yixing said. “I understand you might be confused. If I didn't know you, I wouldn't know that the MIB was real. But, why are you angry?”

 

“I'm fighting hybrids, Yixing. Fucking hybrids! And you're one of them!”

 

Yixing's chest grew tight. He didn't want Zitao to hate him. It sounded like he did. “I...I saved your life, Zitao.”

 

“No one asked you to!” Zitao yelled.

 

Yixing placed a hand to his chest. He...no, he didn't want to feel like this right now. “Zitao, please.”

 

Zitao's eyes were wide as if he didn't know what to say. “Why do you have to be a hybrid? I don't want to hurt you.”

 

Hurt him? Yixing was already hurting. He had done too much. He should have called in. Junmyeon owed him anyways. Or Minseok, he would have done him a favor. Yixing could feel himself wavering. The edges of his vision were going black. The last thing he saw was Zitao's face switch from confused anger to surprised concern.

 

The ground hurt. Yixing felt that, but more importantly, his chest hurt. He tried to breath. His inhaler was empty. He had his last one in his locker.

 

“Yixing!”

 

Arms suddenly wrapped around him and picked him up from the ground. They cradled him.

 

“Someone get another doctor!” Zitao yelled.

 

Yixing reached out still gasping for breath. He managed to grab onto Zitao's poncho. “Can't...breath.”

 

Zitao was blurry in Yixing's darkened vision and eventually he just closed his eyes. Then, he felt it, lips on his own, a tongue forcing them apart and suddenly air. Yixing swallowed it. It came again. He took more. Finally, he could take a deep breath of his own.

 

“Here, I need to stab him with this,” another voice said. Baekhyun. “It'll put him to sleep then give him a few more mouth to mouths. We'll get him set up once he's not fighting himself anymore.”

 

Yixing felt the sting of a needle then Zitao's lips again. His body was getting numb from the shot. He felt Zitao suddenly lift. He counted the steps. One...Two...Three...Four...

 

...Five...

 

...Six...

 

...Sev—

 

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( ^ w ^)

 

Yixing woke up in a hospital room. Which, considering he worked mostly twelve hour shifts in a hospital, wasn't surprising. What surprised Yixing was the body curled up on the guest chair in his room. Zitao with his poncho pulled around him as a makeshift blanket slept quietly on the chair. Yixing watched him, the only sounds the beeping and humming of the equipment attached to him. Zitao looked peaceful. He looked soft and like a child. Yixing wanted to reach out and stroke his fingers through the agents newly dyed pink hair. But, hadn't he been angry? The agent had been more than reasonably upset finding out Yixing wasn't the Earthling that he thought he was. The MIB couldn't know everything the SFPP were hiding. The SFPP didn't even have complete power over Yixing. He knew putting the truth in his report about Zitao would get him in trouble, but he had thought it was worth it.

 

It was worth it, Yixing thought still staring at Zitao. Even if Zitao hated him now, it was worth it.

 

Long black eyelashes fluttered open. Zitao shifted on the chair then turned seeing Yixing staring at him. Yixing didn't bother looking away. He tried to smile, though.

 

“You're awake?”

 

Yixing nodded. “Do you know how long I've been out?”

 

Zitao looked around then pulled out a cellphone. “It was late at night and now it's early morning. Five hours? Something around that.”

 

Yixing frowned. He had missed most of his shift. Who had they got to replace him?

 

“Was it because of me?”

 

Yixing turned back to Zitao surprised. “What?”

 

“Your body was starting to shut down. You're a Layan hybrid. There wasn't enough carbon dioxide in your system,” Zitao pointed out. “Was it because you healed me?”

 

Yixing did look away this time. “No. I've been running low.”

 

“But you wouldn't be if you hadn't saved me,” Zitao said.

 

It was true, but Yixing would have done it either way. “I wanted to save you, Zitao. Didn't you just save me?”

 

Zitao didn't answer and Yixing turned to look at the agent. He was looking away with his head resting against a hand. His nose was scrunched up and his lips pursed.

 

“Zitao?”

 

The agent sighed. “I just...I didn't want you to die, either.”

 

Yixing smiled.

 

Before he could say more, there was a knock on the door. Zitao stood immediately as an older man walked in. He glanced at Zitao only once before turning to Yixing with a big toothy smile and a clipboard in hand.

 

“Hello, Yixing, I'm here to release you if that's alright.”

 

“Director,” Yixing greeted, his nerves starting to make his skin crawl. Of course the hospital director would know about his little fainting spell. Who else would have him hooked up like this.

 

“I'll take my leave,” Zitao said quickly slipping past the director and out.

 

Yixing sighed. He'd escaped. Yixing had wanted to understand more of why Zitao had been so angry. For now, Yixing just sat up in bed and bowed his head.

 

“I apologize for causing a ruckus.”

 

“Yixing, look at me.”

 

Slowly, Yixing lifted his head. He could see the disapproval in the director's eyes and his guts twisted.

 

“You are a brilliant doctor, Yixing, but I wish you would take better care of yourself. You do too much sometimes. I shouldn't have let you switch with Junmyeon the other day. Playing hero during that busy of a week was too much.”

 

Yixing's eyes went wide. “Now, if I hadn't—”

 

The director cut him off. “You don't believe in your fellow doctors’ abilities?”

 

It wasn't about ability. Junmyeon was amazing, but he knew nothing about alien poisons just like the other doctors in this hospital. Minseok might have been a better choice, but he rarely worked in the cardiovascular area. Yixing had been selfish to save Zitao, but...was he just suppose to let something fail before it even began?

 

“You have put me in a difficult spot,” the director continued.

 

This was it, Yixing was going to get fired. Perhaps he would be able to start his own practice with his reputation, but that wasn't what Yixing wanted to do.

 

“You have three months worth of vacation saved up. I think you should start using it. I've already approved your time off starting the end of the month which is next week. Also, take the next two days as on call days. We were already planning for another doctor, we're just going to bring him in early and page anyone available for the ER. We have two doctors specifically assigned to the ER, most hospitals just go with what they have, so we'll be fine without you for a while,” the director said.

 

A forced vacation. Yixing hadn't taken a vacation since the last time they'd forced one on him and even then it had only been a week. “You can't overwork Junmyeon. I don't need a whole month.”

 

“Get rid of your vacation hours, Yixing. Junmyeon will be fine. He'll be glad to get more hours now that he's planning that wedding. Just do what I say and don't argue. You don't want that poor lad seeing you faint again. I've never seen such a scary guy look so scared. He almost cried.”

 

Zitao had been scared for him? Yixing still frowned. “I...I can't not work.”

 

The director sighed and started scratching at his clipboard with a pen. “If it was up to me, I'd let you work all you want, but it's dangerous if you're working yourself to the point of fainting. You're government sponsored and they gave me a call. There's nothing you can do but enjoy your time off.” The director tore off a paper from his clipboard and handed it to Yixing.

 

Yixing took the paper, looked over it, and laid back down giving in.


	7. I'm Not a Good Doctor

**7\. I’m Not A Great Doctor**

    

    “I knew you would still be here.”

 

Yixing turned to see Baekhyun sliding onto the stone bench outside of the front of the hospital. He pursed his lips and turned back to watch the sun set over the tall buildings of Seoul. “So are you.”

 

Baekhyun sighed. “But I was working a double shift. You were told to go home and rest. Great doctors can't run on goodwill alone.”

 

“I'm not a great doctor, I'm just a Layan hybrid,” Yixing said.

 

Baekhyun lifted a hand to Yixing's shoulder and squeezed. “You hardly use your Layan powers. Most of the lives you save are saved from just your own earthly abilities. And does it really matter if you use some highly enhanced scientific process to save the rest? It's there, Yixing, Earthlings just don't know about it. Layans aren't that much more advanced than Earthlings, that's why they don't actively introduce alien healing into most societies. It's not like you're being selfish. It hurts you to save people.”

 

Yixing stared down at his hands. It did hurt, more than it should, but Yixing couldn't stop doing it. He had already set rules for himself, but sometimes everything happened at once. “I couldn't leave him be.”

 

“Him?” Baekhyun asked. “The guy in the black with pink hair and earrings that was kissing life back into you?”

 

Yixing felt his ears warm up. Kissing life back into him? He wasn't sure sloppy mouth to mouth could be considered kissing. They didn't even need mouth to mouth in CPR anymore. He was giving him carbon dioxide. Yixing didn't answer and Baekhyun finally pulled his hand away and stood.

 

“Come drink with me, Yixing, though you're only getting water. I can't have someone just out of the hospital drunk off their ass,” Baekhyun said and held out a hand.

 

“Chen’s?” Yixing asked.

 

Baekhyun's face lit up. “Of course. Where else would I go to drink?”

 

Pizza did sound good. Yixing took Baekhyun's hand and let the paramedic hold it, swinging their arms like children as they walked to Chen's. The restaurant was crowded for lunch. Yixing had stayed in his hospital bed for a couple hours before nurses came to unhook him and another hour before actually leaving. He had tried to slip into scrubs and his white coat, but Junmyeon had caught him in the locker room and chased him out. Yixing hadn't known what to do from there. He had just sat in front of the hospital soaking in sunlight. It was only as he sniffed the delicious smell of garlic and spices that Yixing realized how hungry he was.

 

Jongdae immediately caught sight of them and gestured to a place at the bar for them to sit. It took him a while to finish up with other customers before sliding over to them, more appropriately, to Baekhyun.

 

“The usual?” Jongdae asked.

 

“For me, yes,” Baekhyun answered then gestured over to Yixing. “For this one, just water and food. He just got over a fainting fit.”

 

“Fainted?” Jongdae asked. He seemed genuinely concerned. They weren't really friends, but Yixing was the friend of the guy Jongdae fucked so maybe that meant something.

 

“From overworking,” Baekhyun added.

 

Jongdae nodded then turned to Baekhyun. “You don't overwork yourself, either. You only come in around this time when you've been working double shifts.”

 

Baekhyun smiled nervously. “I got to take a nap. I helped get Yixing set up in a bed so they let me take a break.”

 

Jongdae just rolled his eyes and headed back to the kitchen.

 

Yixing wiped the counter area around him before laying his head on it. The surface was cool, but smelled of cleaning supplies. It reminded him of the hospital.

 

“You're the only person I know who could miss a hospital,” Baekhyun said. “I like being a paramedic, but at least I get to drive around. I would love a month's worth of vacation.”

 

Yixing groaned. “Don't remind me about that.”

 

Jongdae came back out with their pizza and handed Baekhyun two bottles of soju while placing a small tea set in front of Yixing instead of water. “The tea is on the house.”

 

Baekhyun pursed his lips. “You know, maybe you should ride his dick instead of me. It looks like the friend gets more benefits.”

 

Yixing laughed at that.

 

“But then I guess I would have some weird growing relationship with a grown ass pastel emo,” Baekhyun added.

 

That made Yixing frowned. He had hoped to see Zitao walking around when he got out of the room. “Black is his work uniform.”

 

“Sure, and so is his pink hair and that poncho thing.”

 

Yixing just shrugged. Baekhyun probably didn't know about the MIB. He was an alien and from a society that was far more advanced than Earthlings or Layans, but he was born on Earth as were his parents before him and his grandparents. There was no point in troubling him about it.

 

The pizzeria had grew louder as the nightlife started to overtake the family dinners. Yixing could see Jongdae dishing out more alcohol and pizza than anything else on the menu. There were a lot of young adults tonight. A large group of them sat off in a corner conversing amongst themselves. A couple of them looked familiar, but Yixing couldn't place them. Most likely they were aliens and recent regulars at the club Yixing went to with Yifan. He was always introduced to most regulars via his friend who was a much more regular regular to the place, but not since the Dracos had started dating Minseok.

 

It must have been quite recent, though. Their voices sounded familiar, too.

 

“How about dessert pizza?” Jongdae offered.

 

“That sounds so good,” Baekhyun slurred.

 

Jongdae smiled and went to the back. Yixing caught his eyes shift to the group Yixing had been looking at. Maybe he thought they were suspicious, too, but Jongdae was good about getting money up front so they couldn't dine and dash. They did stand. A few of them carried familiar black bags slung over their shoulders with ease as if they were some sorority fashion statement. One had been left under the table.

 

Yixing remembered the bags.Last time, they had contained capsule portals with alien dog monsters, but that wasn't the only thing a capsule portal could let through.They were we a type of wormhole after all.

 

There were also less scientific objects that could be left in a suspicious black bag.

 

There was a tick.

 

Yixing grabbed Baekhyun and pulled him around the counter. “Run!” he yelled to the rest of the pizzeria.

 

The other occupants of the pizzeria slowly died down in conversation as Yixing's shout registered. In the silence, the ticking could be heard more clearly. The other customers started running. Most of them got out before the explosion actually occurred. It wasn't very large, but it was enough to cause damage to the pizzeria.

 

“Y-Yixing, where's Jongdae?” Baekhyun asked. His hands were glowing from fright, but he had enough control to keep the rest of his body from lighting up light a black light.

 

Yixing grabbed Baekhyun's hand and crawled towards the kitchen behind the counter. They reached it just as Yixing heard low growls and whines. Crownoids. There must have been capsules in the bag with the bomb. The explosion had caused them to break open. Yixing hurriedly closed the kitchen door after them. A second later, one of the creatures jumped against the glass of the kitchen door and started growling.

 

“What the fuck! Crownoids?” Baekhyun asked staring at the door horrified.

 

Yixing turned to Baekhyun. “Is Jongdae in here?”

The mention of the man the Bright Star was in love with had Baekhyun skittering around the kitchen. “He's knocked out.”

 

Yixing followed to find the restaurant's owner sprawled on the floor unconscious behind the middle island that had slabs of dough rolled out. He quickly started to check Jongdae over, but he couldn't find any signs that the explosion had done this, or that he had just happened to fall himself. Yixing did find a red dot on Jongdae's arm where a needle had been pierced.

 

“I think they were after Jongdae,” Yixing said and showed the needle mark to Baekhyun.

 

“Fuuuck! How are we supposed to get out of here. We need to check his vitals to see what they shot him up with. And we need to see if anyone else has been hurt,” Baekhyun said and pulled out his cellphone. “I'm calling the hospital. Screw the emergency hotline, we're right down the street.”

 

Yixing nodded, but the growling from the door made Baekhyun pause.

 

“What do we do about the Crownoids?” Baekhyun asked.

 

The rush of oxygen had made the alien dogs rabid. They would have definitely attacked Jongdae the moment they saw him had Yixing and Baekhyun not wandered in and closed the door. And the fire was drying them up. They would explode. He could already hear them causing a ruckus with whoever was left in the restaurant.

 

“Call the ambulance,” Yixing said and pulled out his own phone. “I'll call the SFPP.”

 

“There's no need for the SFPP.”

 

Yixing peeked over the table they had found Jongdae behind to see two tall young men standing in the doorway of the kitchen, one with red hair, the other with black. They wore black hoodies, black jeans, and black sunglasses and had a dozen belts strapped to their legs, a gun and laser shield in each of their hands. Yixing recognized them as the guys that had been walking around the hospital the night he had saved Zitao.

 

The black haired one smirked at them and peeled a sizzling glove from one hand with his teeth. “The Crownoids are down.”

 

The red haired one smiled widely and held a hand out to them. “Bright Star Byun Baekhyun and hybrid Dr. Zhang Yixing, if you would please assist us with bringing that human into custody, we would greatly appreciate it.”

 

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\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

Yixing had never been through a wormhole before. His whole body felt like it was stretching and collapsing at the same time as colors danced around his head, but it was only a matter of seconds before they had reached the other side. They were inside a large building, futuristic the only word Yixing could use to describe it built with white metallic material. It was sparsely populated with people in black clothing, mostly suits. A tall scaly creature in black armor walked past Yixing followed by a velvety skinned Shade in a suit. On the other side of the building, Yixing caught a glimpse of a Layan, the first one Yixing had seen other than his own birth parent in a skin tight jumpsuit that covered part of its mouth like most Layans wore except this one was all black. Of course there were Earthlings like the one tapping away at a holographic computer by the portal Yixing had walked out of.

 

Yixing took a step forward as the others filed out after him. Immediately, two of the MIB agents walking around rushed forward and gathered Jongdae up from his slung position being carried between the tall MIB agents that had saved Yixing and Baekhyun from the Crownoids. With their hands free, they both turned to Baekhyun. The dark haired agent grabbed Baekhyun's arms while the red haired agent pulled out a syringe and poked it into Baekhyun's wrist before he could even complain. Baekhyun screamed and his whole body lit up with a blue neon light before settling down into a low hum and his eyes glowed. The red haired agent took out another syringe and Yixing backed up, but the agent turned the syringe on himself. His skin glowed orange like lava under a thin epidermis surface and his eyes turned pitch black. An Infernosapien, another race from the same planet as Baekhyun and Bright Stars. Instead of turning their bodies into light, they had evolved to turn their bodies into heat They had fought the Bright Stars for many years until losing most of their electronic intelligence. Yixing had never seen one before. Yixing guessed the other agent was simply an Earthling as he let Baekhyun go and turned to Yixing.

 

“This is the MIB headquarters,” the dark haired agent said.

 

“MIB?” Baekhyun asked rubbing at his skin. Yixing knew the paramedic didn't like showing his bioluminescence. “The Men in Black? You're kidding me? Where did those other guys take Jongdae? And why did you have to poke me with that stuff?”

 

The red haired agent bowed in apology towards Baekhyun. “It is a rule that you must walk around without a disguise in headquarters.” He then turned to Yixing. “I'm guessing you were born with this look?”

 

“Yes,” Yixing said quickly. “I don't look much like a Layan.”

 

The red haired agent nodded and turned to his partner who shrugged.

 

The black haired agent stood straighter and started to walk waving a hand for them to follow. “As for who we are, I am agent Sehun.”

 

“I'm agent Chanyeol,” the red haired agent said.

 

“Most agents have much shorter names, but I'm an orphan and half the populations of Infernosapiens are named Chanyeol. We have brought you both here because you have gotten yourself into something quite nasty.”

 

The dark haired agent, the Earthling, Sehun, brought them into a room on one side of the building. The door separated just like any sci-fi action film’s door would and the furniture inside was  just as familiar. Yixing took a seat in one of the smooth egg shaped chairs in the room.

 

“It's all Shade construct if you're curious. They were the founders of the SFPP as well as the MIB,” Chanyeol said seeming to catch onto Yixing's interest. “Shades influence a lot of the media.”

 

“I don't care about furniture! What did you do to Jongdae?” Baekhyun demanded not taking a seat and standing closer to the door with his arms crossed.

 

“If you will take a seat, we can get on with that,” Sehun said.

 

Baekhyun was reluctant, but one reassuring smile from Yixing had the Bright Star finally easing up into a seat by Yixing.

 

“Now, if you two will hold your hands out in front of you as if there was a wall there, we'll get started,” Chanyeol instructed.

 

Yixing did and Baekhyun followed him not long after. A holographic screen suddenly popped up. Yixing noticed lines forming similar to the heart monitoring lines he had learned to read on patients.

 

“Question 1: have either of you ever had an encounter with an Arbokian to your knowledge?” Chanyeol asked.

 

Arbokians, a hostile species. They had very briefly reached a high mark in intelligence by discovering time travel, but it was frail and they were power hungry. The SFPP had been created to stop them. That was hundreds of years ago, though.

 

“No,” Baekhyun answered.

 

“Yes,” Yixing said.

 

“Dr. Zhang, state the circumstance,” Sehun instructed.

 

“They were a patient. They were a hybrid. It was when I first became a doctor,” Yixing said. The lines on his screen stayed stable.

 

Both agents nodded and continued with the next question.

 

“Question 2: Have either of you helped in extraterrestrial investigations before?” Chanyeol asked.

 

They both answered yes.

 

“State the circumstance,” Sehun instructed again.

 

Baekhyun spoke up first. “I tend to do house calls for aliens. I have to report any of that to the SFPP and I...when I lost my virginity I showed my alien self to a human. I guess it was you guys who took care of that.” The Bright Star was frowning.

 

Yixing glanced over at Baekhyun. The paramedic was worried. Why had they taken Jongdae? To brainwash him again like they had the night Baekhyun had first met him in college?

 

“I treat major illnesses and injuries with aliens. They know there is a doctor in that hospital that can do it. I've been working with the SFPP for years. I am also personally acquainted with agent Z.T.”

 

The MIB agents looked at each other. Baekhyun was looking at Yixing with wide eyes. Yixing didn't look at any of them.

 

“That must be why you yelled for everyone to get down. We had just arrived,” Chanyeol explained.

 

“Chanyeol, finish the questions first,” Sehun said nudging his partner.

 

“Alright,” Chanyeol continued, “question 3: have you known Kim Jongdae on a personal level for many years?”

 

“Yes,” they both answered.

 

“Circumstances?” Sehun asked.

 

Baekhyun looked away and muttered, “He's the one I lost my virginity to.”

 

“And now?” Sehun urged.

 

“We fuck,” Baekhyun answered glaring at the dark haired agent.

 

Yixing quickly interrupted them before Baekhyun could continue. “Kim Jongdae opened a pizzeria close to the hospital. A lot of the hospital staff eat there after work. I have known him as long as that restaurant has been open.”

 

Both agents nodded. Chanyeol walked forward holding a glowing stick. He approached Baekhyun first and slapped it around the paramedic's wrists as they were still placed up on the holographic monitoring system. Yixing didn't move away as Chanyeol went to him next and handcuffed him as well.

 

“What's going on?” Baekhyun asked.

 

“We're containing you both for now,” Sehun explained, “under suspicious involvement with one Earthling, Kim Jongdae.”

 

“What? What did he do?” Baekhyun asked.

 

“That, we do not know wholly, but he had involvement with a hybrid terrorist group,” Sehun explained. “That is all you will be getting for now. Please stay silent and wait in this room.”

 

Sehun and Chanyeol left. Baekhyun tried to follow after them, but only thumped against the door as it closed and turned to Yixing. “What is going on?”

 

Yixing wondered that, too, but more so, he contemplated Zitao's words from before:

 

“I'm fighting hybrids, Yixing. Fucking hybrids! And you're one of them!”

 

A hybrid terrorist group? Yixing lowered his head. Now he understood.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

“I can't stand it anymore,” Baekhyun complained and started to jiggle his wrists. When the band didn't ease up, he groaned and leaned back in his chair.

 

Yixing frowned at his friend. They had been stuck in this room handcuffed for at least two hours now. His bladder was starting to feel uncomfortable.

 

“Why does the MIB exist, Yixing?” Baekhyun asked.

 

“Why shouldn't they?” Yixing countered.

 

The paramedic sighed and held his tied wrists in the air. “I wonder how Jongdae's doing. You don't think he's really in trouble, do you?”

 

Yixing shrugged. He didn't know Jongdae that well, but Jongdae seemed to notice the young group in the corner of the pizzeria just as Yixing had. Yixing remembered some of them now from the club. It was a good thing he did. If they hadn’t started to flee before the bomb had exploded, those Crownoids would have attacked innocent Earthlings.

 

“Get out of my fucking way!”

 

Baekhyun seemed to perk up hearing the yelling outside the door. “Who was that?”

 

“Agent Z.T, you can't just barge in anywhere you want,” one of the agents that had brought them in, Sehun, said having been guarding the door the whole time.

 

Z.T. “Zitao,” Yixing said and got off his chair to move close to the door. Baekhyun moved with him. There wasn't a window on the door, but Yixing could hear and pressed his ear against the cold white metal.

 

“I'm not barging in. I have permission to take Dr. Zhang,” Zitao said.

 

“We're not done questioning them. It takes at least six hours before they start to spill and the other suspect hasn't woken up yet,” Sehun countered.

 

“That's not my problem. You can keep the Bright Star,” Zitao sighed. “I'm just here to collect the doctor.”

 

“The hybrid is the most suspicious since he already knew about the MIB,” Sehun argued.

 

“He knows because of me,” Zitao said.

 

“Yes, because you lost the Darllin Pocket Dimension,” Sehun sneered. “I might be a year younger than you and not as favored as you, but at least I haven't screwed up that badly.”

 

“Sehun,” came another voice, Chanyeol, walking up to the door, “stop spatting with your best friend.”

 

“He's not my best friend, you are,” Sehun complained.

 

“No, I'm your boyfriend, now open the door and let Z.T have his lover already unless you want a laser pole up your ass,” Chanyeol said.

 

Sehun started to mutter some things under his breath. His partner seemed to catch it. “Yes, yes, you stick lots of poles up my ass, just open the door.”

 

There was the sound of air decompressing as the locks on the sliding door were removed and it slid open before Yixing could fully pull away. He stumbled a bit and caught himself with his handcuffed hands on a shoulder while Baekhyun just fell face first onto the floor. A hand wrapped around Yixing's waist and he looked at the person who was steadying him. Zitao stared back at him with wide eyes. It had been a while. Yixing felt warm and looked away. As politely as he could, he pushed himself off. Zitao didn't remove his hand from Yixing's waist right away, but eventually, he did step back. The other two agents reached down and lifted Baekhyun from the floor.

 

“Let go of me,” Baekhyun complained. “Where's Jongdae, I want to know what you did to him. He's just an Earthling.”

 

“He's an Earthling who has memories locked away that are key to a terrorist group,” Chanyeol said.

 

“Is that all they got?” Sehun asked.

 

“That’s it. I just got back from the examination room. They're going to try and extract the information. That's probably why the hybrid group was trying to kill him,” Chanyeol explained.

 

“Is that why he was knocked out already?” Baekhyun asked looking between the two agents that had a hold of him.

 

Sehun and Chanyeol looked at each other before nodding and turned to Yixing. “We only managed to save you guys because we saw a familiar member jump out of a window from the kitchen of the pizzeria a few minutes before the explosion. By the time we had pieced everything together, people were already running out.”

 

“I told them to run,” Yixing said. “I've seen those black bags and a few of those people before.”

 

The two agents turned to Zitao. Zitao was looking away.

 

“Z.T,” Sehun warned.

 

Zitao reached out and grabbed Yixing by his cuffs. “Take the Bright Star where he needs to go. I have business with the doctor.”

 

Yixing tumbled after Zitao. “W-wati! Is Baekhyun going to be alright?”

 

“They won't hurt him,” Zitao said. “You'll see your friend again.”

 

“What about Jongdae?” Yixing asked.

 

Zitao didn't answer. He pulled Yixing through another door and started winding through circular halls that were dimly lit. Yixing felt disoriented by them and when Zitao stopped, he bumped into his back.

 

“S-sorry,” Yixing said.

 

Zitao turned and brought out a small device holding it by Yixing's handcuffs. They snapped off and Zitao pocketed them before grabbing Yixing's wrists with his own hands and pulled him closer. It was almost a hug. The agent's head was bent resting against Yixing's and his eyelashes fluttered closed as he took in deep breaths.

 

“Yixing, are you alright?” Zitao finally asked, voice soft.

 

Alright? “Why wouldn't I be?”

 

“The smoke and...” Zitao trailed off and pulled away.

 

Yixing chest fell. “Oh, a little smoke won't hurt me. Are you?”

 

Zitao raised a brow then smiled. It was a sweet smile and he finally let go of Yixing's wrists. “I apologize for yelling at you.”

 

Yixing didn't know what to do with his hands. He lifted them and fiddled with his glasses. “I understand why you did. I'm a hybrid and there's a hybrid terrorist group.”

 

“I've never met a hybrid I wasn't suppose to fight. This group, they think they're better than Earthlings and other aliens. They live on the most hospitable developing planet, but have the abilities of other stronger species. They want to destroy the SFPP. No, they want to take over the known universe They're the ones that realigned the wormhole transitions for that alien war you saw glimpses of. I had been shipped to the defending side to keep a watch on things, but one of the hybrid groups had infiltrated their system and made a mess of me. It's difficult to work on your own.”

 

“Where's your partner?” Yixing asked. “Mating season is over.”

 

“It might be over, but agent Kai chose a XDA as a mate. He's quitting. I believe your roommate doesn't talk about his lover much if you don't know.”

 

Yixing frowned. “He talks about him, but mostly just about having him.”

 

“Recently, Kai had been doing more SFPP work. He wants to settle down with your roommate. If he was an Earthling, the MIB would lock his memory, but since he's not and he's in a relationship with an alien, then he can just quit,” Zitao explained.

 

“Sehun and Chanyeol are lovers?” Yixing asked.

 

“And partners. Everyone is suppose to have at least one partner, but I currently work without one,” Zitao said then crossed his arms. “Yixing, there's a reason I was allowed to break you free. The SFPP has been trying to find a reason to get a hold of you, so of course the MIB wants you,too.”

 

“I have a job, I'm a doctor. I can't do the MIB work on top of that.” At least that was what Yixing said, but he felt excited thinking about it.

 

Zitao frowned. “Sign up as a temporary. I already know you have a month's vacation after next week and this will keep you safe. All hybrids are on our alert. I don't believe you would risk your own life to save humans of any species on a daily basis if you felt you were better than them. Besides, most of the hybrids we’re fighting are Arbokian hybrids”

 

“I do like to save people,” Yixing said.

 

Zitao smiled. “I have also come to the conclusion that you're a workaholic. You won't have much to do, but you'll get called on. You have SFPP training already and I could use a medic when I go into space and visit other planets.”

 

Yixing's eyes widened. Other planets, space, where they even on Earth right now? For being half alien, Yixing had never considered he could actually leave Earth. Could he visit Laya, the Layan home planet? He would also love to see Luhan's planet, bring the XDA to frolic in the flourishing flowers and plants and golden waterfalls of sweet nectar like water. It was said there were hot springs where XDAs liked having orgies under the rising sun.

 

“Are you interested in seeing space, Yixing?” Zitao asked and moved closer.

 

Yixing looked away. “I need to make sure I'm here for the hospital.”

 

Zitao reached out a hand and placed it on Yixing's arm, squeezing. Yixing's eyes traced Zitao's arm, his muscles were taut. He wasn’t wearing his poncho that covered up his physique. His eyes traveled up Zitao’s arm to his neck, collared with a small instrument hanging as a pendent, then to his clenched jaw and tightened lips,to his ears with their multiple piercings, and finally, Zitao's desperate eyes.

 

“Please, Yixing, sign up. You'll only be a medic. I messed up without Jongin with me. I'm one of the best stealth fighters the MIB has, but I'm no good without someone to back me up. Those hybrids are going to get more ballsy. I have a job to do, but I don’t want anyone getting hurt, please Yixing.”

 

Zitao was right. Yixing was a workaholic. The director wasn't going to let up even if he did get called in for a couple surgeries. If it was only for the month he was out of work, Yixing could still help people. He lifted his other hand and put it on top of Zitao's on his other arm and squeezed.

 

“I won't let you get hurt, Zitao,” he promised.


	8. I'm Farsighted

**8\. I’m Farsighted**

 

    Zitao led Yixing through the maze of rounded hallways to a locker room. There were rows and rows of shiny lockers as well as lockers along the walls, each dependent on a fingerprint to open and much larger on the inside than the outside. Yixing caught sight of the inside of Zitao’s locker as he opened it, walls lined with multiple weapons as well as devices that Yixing couldn’t fathom how they worked. He pondered them until black clothes were thrown at him.

 

“Suit up,” Zitao said bringing out a second set of clothing and pulled off the black poncho before starting on his belt buckle.

 

Yixing watched confused and entranced. Beneath the black poncho, Zitao wore a black sleeveless collared shirt with straps laid all across his chest and more on his pants that secured pouches and weapons to his body. When Zitao had finished removing the straps, he looked up at him and Yixing looked away. He lifted the clothing he had been handed. It was a suit in dark stark black with a thin black tie and a white button up.

 

“They won't let you into the offices unless you're wearing a suit,” Zitao explained.

 

Yixing turned to see Zitao buttoning up the last few buttons of his own shirt then stuffing the ends into his slacks already mostly changed.

 

“Where did this come from?” Yixing asked.

 

“It's my spare. I believe you should be able to put it on, but it might not fit perfectly,” Zitao said.

 

Yixing turned away and started to undress as well. He felt eyes on him, but perhaps that was fair. Zitao had been right when he said it didn't fit perfectly. It was a tailor cut suit. The shoulders were a little wide, but the waist was snug as was the waistband of the pants though the butt and thigh region felt loose.

 

“You're skinnier than me,” Yixing said as he slipped a belt through the loops.

 

“That's funny since you barely eat,” Zitao said holding up the blazer for Yixing.

 

Yixing slipped into the jacket hesitantly. “How would you know about my eating habits?”

 

Zitao reached his arms around Yixing pulling his back against the agent’s chest to button the blazer up for him. He took a step back and was about to reach for the necktie, but Yixing beat him to it.

 

“Do you really think I wasn't watching you that whole time?” Zitao asked. “You had my pocket dimension then you healed me. I've noticed a lot more than you think I have.”

 

“You think you know a lot about me?” Yixing asked and raised a brow. Zitao didn't know anything, or at least he hadn't.

 

“There are things you have to tell people in order for them to know and things that don't matter because they will change. And then there are things that take good friends years to figure out but a perfect stranger only a month,” Zitao said. “Sometimes I have to figure out things in an even shorter amount of time.”

 

Yixing reached out for Zitao. He grabbed the agent's tie and tightened it, eyes meeting Zitao's. “Are you a perfect stranger?”

 

Zitao met Yixing's gaze. The skin around his many earrings grew red, but his muscles barely twitched. Maybe it was because Zitao had work to do or because he was still wary of Yixing's hybrid status, but Yixing didn't find him the least bit cute right then.

 

He was still attractive, though.

 

Zitao pulled away first. He reached back into his locker and pulled out two silver briefcases. One, Yixing recognized as Zitao's, battered and scratched, the other was new and pristine if you didn't count the slight bend in one corner. He held that one out to Yixing.

 

“What's this?” Yixing asked.

 

“It's a replacement for your old one. I had a run in after I bought it so I apologize that it isn't as close to the condition of your old one,” Zitao said.

 

Yixing smiled and pulled the briefcase to his chest. “Thank you. You didn't have to.”

 

Zitao shrugged. “You can keep it in here with mine for now.” He took the case back and put them both in the locker then turned heading out of the locker room. “Let's get you signed up as a medic.”

 

Yixing followed Zitao down more halls until they reached an elevator. Yixing was amazed by the material and construct. It was glass, but not transparent. There were no signs of wires by the buttons or on the top and bottom of the box. There were a few hovering contraptions and air compressors. The stop was smooth. Yixing barely felt the jerk. He could have ignored it if the doors hadn't immediately opened afterwards. Zitao departed with ease, strolling past other agents both Earthlings and aliens walking about. There were a few that Yixing couldn't assign a species to either because they were so mixed or just unknown to Yixing. There were definitely more than those that colonized Earth from time to time, ones that had no way of blending in or those who had intelligence only just above making coffee and wouldn't last where free reign was limited. They walked all the way down the large hall to a series of desks all manned by pretty XDAs glittering with their markings and jewels and horns as big as large deer wearing black suits.

 

“One medic test,” Zitao said walking up to one of the XDAs and handing them a slip.

 

The XDA slid the slip into a machine and started typing away before looking up at Zitao then as Yixing. “The tester may enter room A3 to your right. Agent Z.T, you may stand outside and wait for them. There are instructions that should the tester score high on the medic test, they will then immediately proceed to a combat simulation exam.”

 

Zitao frowned and turned to Yixing. “Are you okay with killing?”

 

“No, but I'm not unfamiliar with death, remember,” Yixing said.

 

Zitao sighed and nodded. The XDA finished typing and a blue light appeared over one of the rooms to the side of the large hall. Yixing walked towards it. A screen beside it asked for his hand and Yixing placed his on it. It beeped before the door opened and Yixing was let in. The room was white and empty and circular. Two spots lit up on the floor and Yixing placed his feet there. A few seconds later, he was in surgery. There was a Bright Star on the table with its chest cavity bared to him. He looked to the side and saw a cart with utensils and then monitoring machines close by showing the alien's stats. Yixing wasn't familiar with all the stats, but after taking in the state of the alien, he could guess how they worked.

 

“Please name the process and how it should be done,” said a voice over. “If you do not know you may attempt the surgery by hand, but please talk through it.”

 

Yixing didn't know all the words. He immediately touched the virtual tools he needed and began talking through the procedure as if teaching new residents. Just as he was getting to a vital point, the simulation changed. It was an Infernosapien, sister species to the Bright Star. The simulation was the same, but as a different species and one that had a body temperature closer to boiling, Yixing had to reconsider his tools. Other species showed up on the table, there were even birthings he had to do. They had Earthlings as well and Yixing could do those without lifting a hand, but then there was a Layan on the table. Yixing stared at it.

 

The voice over spoke up. “Please name the process and how it should be done. You have two minutes left to begin.”

 

It wasn't a simple process.

 

“Is Layan gene splicing an acceptable answer?” Yixing asked. “The most effective process would be a carbon dioxide mask replaced with oxygen every fifteen minutes and Layan gene splicing.”

 

“Layan gene splicing is optional,” the voice over said. “Please proceed with whereabouts of a Layan healer unknown and give another option.”

 

Yixing sighed. He didn't know how to heal a Layan correctly without powers. They relied heavily on their own abilities in all the textbooks he had read. “The tester has Layan healing abilities.”

 

“Processing,” the voice over said. A few seconds ticked by. “Tester's circumstances taken into account, Layan simulation skipped. Next simulation skipped. All medic simulations skipped.”

 

Yixing watched as five more aliens suddenly flashed by him before the room went white again. His stomach felt twisted. Admitting he could do gene splicing felt like cheating. He couldn't do it well.

 

“Dr. Zhang Yixing, medic grade undetermined. Alias: Agent Lay. Passed. Prepare for level two combat simulation. Will a tutorial be needed?” the voice over asked.

 

Yixing swallowed. He'd passed the medical simulation, but Yixing had never held a gun. “Yes please.”

 

“Spartan tutorial initiated,” the voice over said.

 

Spartan? Suddenly, there were weapons of all sorts being flashed at Yixing. He tried his best to memorize them all. Then diagrams of different species and a quick synopsis of their anatomy, but Yixing already knew most of that. Finally, he was put into a tutorial. The first half was a mess, but Yixing understood and got perfects for the rest of the tutorial. Zitao had said Yixing only needed to be support, but he didn't need to be bad support.

 

“Tester tutorial improvement substantial. Skipping to level three combat simulation. Prepare in three...two...one...”

 

Yixing was on a roof with a long range tranquilizer gun in hand. It was then that he remembered why he had so many girls interested in him in high school. His adopted mother wasn't home often and forced him to be out of the house as much as possible. He did most of his homework and studying at school. For three days a week, he was in dance practice. The other days, he had archery club. If he could help it, he didn’t go, and instead buried himself in more textbooks.

 

Yet, Zhang Yixing had gone to nationals his junior year.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

Zitao was standing outside the room when Yixing was finally released. He had gotten through level five before the simulation gave him a fail. He had started getting the weapons mixed up by then. The agent held a sheet in one hand, arms crossed, tapping a toe and staring at Yixing.

 

“Level five,” Zitao said then uncrossed his arms and handed Yixing the slip. “Have you ever shot a gun before?”

 

“I had a boyfriend in middle school who had BB guns,” Yixing said. “Before we started dating, I hung out at his house. I never shot one, but I know how they work”

 

Zitao frowned at the answer. “You shouldn't be that good, though.”

 

“Well, you said I was a workaholic. I took part in multiple after school activities.”

 

“Archery,” Zitao said. “I knew about that. You failed when the simulations started doing more complicated close combat.”

 

Yixing nodded.

 

“That's fine, you're mostly a medic, but I would be grateful for sniper shots. Kai and I worked with stealth and sweeps. He was more the stealth and I was more the sweep.”

 

“I'll keep an eye out for you,” Yixing promised. He had gotten a taste of what Zitao did in the simulation, but he was sure it was far more frightening on the actual field. Any fighting was. Yixing wasn't scared of aliens, though.

 

Zitao's lips quirked as if forcing himself not to smile, but his eyes smiled. “I'll be counting on you then.” He turned and started walking back towards the maze of hallways.

 

Yixing followed and stayed closely behind Zitao, but enough to his side to be in his peripheral. Zitao was long and lean. His walk in the suit was steady and purposeful like that of a model similar to in the club, but Yixing had seen a different gate meeting Zitao while he was in the poncho or his more casual black bomber jacket. It was the gate of a large cat, agile. Yixing's eyes moved to Zitao's legs. They were long, but had weight in the thigh. Yixing wasn't without form, but he thought Zitao both more masculine and more feminine than him.

 

Plus, he had a good ass.

 

Zitao suddenly stopped and turned. Yixing looked up at him then away, but he caught Zitao smirking.

 

“I was in a club in high school.”

 

“Oh?” Yixing was surprised by the topic, but interested.

 

“Well, maybe not a club. I practiced martial arts until I joined the MIB. I still practice it, but now it's not as routine.”

 

Yixing nodded and looked down at himself. He would have to hit the gym soon, he hadn't had time to do so. He didn't want to get soft so close to thirty. In high school he had defined his muscles with dance and archery, not grown them partly do to the fact he never allowed himself time to rest even back then.He had gotten broader in college, but was still relatively small in frame. Though, he still felt jealous of taller people like Yifan and Zitao even if Zitao didn’t tower over him as much.

 

“We have a gym here,” Zitao said and started walking. “Also, good food in the cafeteria, but ask before you eat any of the alien cuisine. The Layan table should be fine for you.”

 

“I've had Layan cuisine before,” Yixing said. His birth parent had fed him Layan cuisine up until they left China, not particularly fond of what they could afford in Chinese cuisine.

 

“While you're on vacation, they'll be giving you calls to come practice medicine here or at one of the SFPP stations when there is not a case you need to go on. But, since you're a medic with simulation training at a mid-level, they may ask that you tag along with partners so you can get field experience in while I'm investigating,” Zitao explained.

 

“So, I'll be going with other groups?” Yixing asked.

 

“Most likely, but it shouldn't be anything difficult. Just routine missions to get your experience up. They’re not going to throw you out with me without knowing what you’re getting yourself into.”

 

Yixing was fine with treating anyone he didn't know, but using weapons with people who might not know his circumstances was unnerving. He almost wished he had chosen to take his vacation seriously and relax, but Yixing would get bored of that quickly.

 

Zitao stopped again, suddenly, and Yixing bumped against his shoulder.

 

“Yixing, have you ever been to space?”

 

“Space? Just Earth,” Yixing answered.That counted as space.

 

Zitao's grinned and reached out for Yixing's wrist. He held it tight and started to walk faster. They stopped at a door in one of the halls. It slid open as they walked up and Zitao pulled Yixing into a large empty white room. In the middle was a glowing pole with a spherical object suspended in mid-air above it. Zitao let go of Yixing's wrist to walk up to it. He grabbed the sphere between his hands and holographic pictures flashed around him.

 

“This is the Green Room. It's mostly just a place to relax. MIB agents can be away from their homes for long periods of time or certain prisoners might need to be relaxed in order to become cooperative and they're brought here,” Zitao explained. “It contains holographs of real footage from some of the planets recorded in the SFPP's database.”

 

“I've seen pictures of other planets,” Yixing said. “Luhan has a book of Xiao Doe.”

 

Zitao smiled and began twisting the pictures around him before clicking on a blank one. “The Green Room is also the only place that has windows other than the pilot's deck.”

 

“Pilot deck?” Yixing asked. Pilots flew. Were they flying?

 

“Where do you think you are right now, Dr. Zhang?” Zitao asked.

 

“The MIB headquarters,” Yixing answered.

 

“And where is that?”

 

There was a metallic creaking. Yixing looked around the white room to see sheets of the white metal lifting at one side revealing a night sky. Only a night sky. Space. Yixing instinctively walked over to one of the windows and stared out. Darkness spotted with lights and colors. Yixing looked down. He could see an atmosphere. It was dark, but Yixing could make out greens and reds and blues.

 

“Is that earth?” Yixing asked.

 

“No,” Zitao answered. His voice was close to Yixing. He lifted a hand to Yixing's shoulder and let it sit there for a moment before sliding it down Yixing's back and left it on his hip. “It's the Shade's home planet. The MIB HQ moves around. We're suppose to be a secret, remember.”

 

Yixing nodded and moved a little closer to Zitao. “It's beautiful.”

 

“There are so many beautiful things in this world,” Zitao said. “As soon as something beautiful turns ugly, people tend not to appreciate it, but then you see something like this and you remember there's a lot more beauty out there. Still, if you look too far away, you might miss the beauty right beside you.”

 

It was cheesy. Yixing could see Zitao glancing at him, but kept his eyes trained out the window. He hoped Zitao was being cheesy and not just philosophical.

 

“Are you nearsighted, Yixing?” Zitao asked.

 

“No, I'm farsighted,” Yixing answered.

 

“That means you can see me better if I'm farther away,” Zitao said. “Shame.”

 

Yixing turned his head to Zitao. He lifted a hand and lowered his glasses. Zitao was a little out of focus, but if Yixing squinted, he could see his face with the same intensity as he did with his glasses on. “I can still see you just fine.”

 

Zitao smiled and dipped his head a bit. There foreheads were almost touching. “I do apologize for being angry. I very much want to trust you. It's...difficult.”

 

“I understand,” Yixing said.

 

“No,” Zitao said and moved his head away. “No you don't.”

 

That response made Yixing frown. Zitao was probably right. Zitao knew more about him than he did about the agent. He knew Zitao's name and he knew he was Chinese. He knew he'd been doing martial arts for years and that was it. But, he had known less of Junmyeon before crushing on his fellow doctor. He had barely known the names of the girls he briefly dated in high school. He hadn't even been interested in the boy in middle school. He wanted friends, so they hung out then he'd kissed Yixing. The only one Yixing had known was his college girlfriend. They had been friends for years. She was pretty and nice and Yixing could get excited with her. He barely got excited with Yifan. He got more excited just thinking about all the weird shit Luhan did by himself in his room or with Jongin and Yixing would never dream of dating Luhan.

 

Just standing next to Zitao, Yixing's skin crawled. He remembered the feeling of kissing him and licked his lips.

 

“Do you want to see other planets?” Zitao asked. He was still close, but he seemed to be moving away at the same time. “I'm afraid you can't go home until they release your friends.”

 

Yixing shook his head and stayed staring down at the Shades' home planet. “Just...stand here beside me. It's so empty out there, I might fall out of the window.”

 

Zitao laughed. It made Yixing happy.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

“I can't believe the MIB is real,” Baekhyun exclaimed as they exited out of the wormhole.

 

“Yeah,” Yixing said and lifted one of the dazed Jongdae's arms over his shoulders.

 

Baekhyun grabbed the pizzeria owner's other arm and they both started trudging to the hospital just down the street. “You've known for a while, haven't you?”

 

“That briefcase was Zitao's,” Yixing said. Jongdae groaned and his eyes fluttered. “Perhaps we should talk about this later. We need to get Jongdae into the hospital.”

 

Baekhyun nodded and they continued down the street. The ER seemed busy. A few of the customers from the pizzeria must have been hurt by shrapnel from the explosion. It had been a few hours since the incident, but there were still patients waiting. Agents Sehun and Chanyeol had instructed them to take Jongdae to the hospital for him to be watched over while investigations were being done. Yixing would take care of getting Jongdae into a room and hooked up with surveillance while they took care of everything else. Jongdae wouldn't remember any of the probing they had done to him at the MIB headquarters, but it seemed they had at least tapped into what they wanted out of him and were waiting for the information to surface.

 

Once inside the hospital, Yixing settled Jongdae down on a seat with Baekhyun and went up to the desk.

 

“Oh, Dr. Zhang. You're not scheduled tonight,” the nurse said.

 

“I was at the explosion earlier. I've been held up with an investigation team with the pizzeria's boss, but he passed out and isn't looking too good. Let me clock in,” Yixing said.

 

The nurse looked reluctant then picked up a phone. “Let me call Dr. Kim.” There was a brief discussion over the phone and then Junmyeon showed up around the corner.

 

“Yixing, you're a lifesaver, did you know that,” Junmyeon said. “The director said it was fine if we called you in today, but he wants you out of here by eight in the morning, understood?”

 

Yixing couldn't help but smile as he agreed. “I understand.”

 

Junmyeon shook his head and looked over to where Baekhyun and Jongdae were. “Get your friend hooked up and then I'd like for you to assist the chief in surgeries while I patch up the smaller wounds.”

 

“I can do smaller wounds,” Yixing said. “You seem like you want to help with surgeries.”

 

Junmyeon's face twitched. “I was trying to give you an easier job, Yixing.”

 

Yixing's smile dropped. “I feel fine. I want to help. This will be the easier job. Go to surgery, Junmyeon.”

 

Junmyeon sighed and waved Yixing off as he headed upstairs. Yixing excused himself to the locker room and pulled out his lab coat and paused seeing a silver briefcase with a small dent in his locker. He smiled. Zitao must have been around and dropped it off for him. He had left Yixing sometime before he and Baekhyun had been allowed to leave. Yixing made sure to grab his last inhaler before heading back to the ER floor. He did a quick check up of Jongdae before sending him with some nurses and Baekhyun to a room, the paramedic agreed to watch his lover until someone came as a guard.

 

“Yixing,” Baekhyun said, “don't use that.”

 

Yixing pulled out his inhaler and waved it at Baekhyun. “I'll be fine. They hopped me up on carbon dioxide when I was in bed.”

 

There were still lots of patients with very minor injuries. Yixing felt tired. It wasn't the smartest idea, but Yixing knew he needed to go home and sleep soon. He started to use the tiniest bit of his Layan abilities to close up wounds. It was faster than stitching and would cost the patients less in the long run. But, Yixing felt good for the most part. He barely started to feel the effects until Junmyeon came back from surgery as he was bandaging up a child.

 

“You can go home now, Yixing,” Junmyeon said.

 

Yixing frowned and finished up bandaging sending the child away. “There are still quite a few patients.”

 

Junmyeon reached out and started pushing Yixing towards the door. “Leave, go home, and rest. You just got out of the hospital yourself a few hours ago.”

 

Yixing sighed and went to the locker room. It would probably be best to leave his case in his locker since he would be back in a couple days to finish up his week before his vacation started, but he would have to take everything with him over his vacation. Yixing decided to remove his clothes and do laundry while he was out. He held them in one hand and kept his lab coat on as he exited the hospital. He sent Baekhyun a couple texts walking towards his usual bus stop. He stopped when he heard a whining.

 

A dog?

 

Yixing turned down one of the alleyways between buildings and froze seeing a Crownoid. Its crown had been burst, or more appropriately, removed, and it had been left on the ground beaten. Yixing approached it carefully. If it was still alive, it could still have the strength to attack him.

 

“Dr. Zhang Yixing, you really are a golden hearted hybrid, how touching.”

 

Yixing turned to see one of the familiar young adults with the black bags he'd seen at the club and the pizzeria. They grinned at him, a pointed tooth grin.

 

“You...” Yixing started. “What did you do to this Crownoid?”

 

They just grinned more and raised a hand snapping their fingers. Yixing felt the other person's hands before their presence. They covered Yixing's mouth with a cloth and Yixing tried to fight only to feel his chest growing heavy. It wasn't the time to loose his breath.

 

And it definitely wasn't the time to be unconscious.


	9. I Get Myself Into Enough Trouble

**9\. I Get Myself Into Enough Trouble**

 

    Yixing awoke with a kick to his side. He coughed and flailed into a sitting position before looking around. He was in a dark, dank, dismantled room. It was small like a bunker, but big enough to hold four people comfortably including himself. He was on the floor. There was a small girl and a large man sitting together on the cot in the room and another man standing above Yixing. They all had familiar faces, members of  the black bag hybrids he had been seeing sneaking around.

 

“What am I doing here?” Yixing croaked. His throat felt dry.

 

The guy above him shrugged. “Honestly, we didn't expect to catch you so off guard, but we're not too happy with your little display at the pizzeria.

 

The pizzeria? Yixing frowned. “Are you mad because I noticed?”

 

“Yes, we were going to get rid of that restaurant owner,” the guy over him said.

 

“Why?” Yixing asked.

 

“Why? Well, we're not all that sure ourselves, Mr. Layan Hybrid. It doesn’t really matter.The boss said he knew too much he needed to be gotten rid of and to get rid of some Earthlings while at it. Didn’t sound like such a bad idea,” the guy said.

 

“Don't tell this guy our plans, we don't even know if we're keeping him,” the girl interrupted. “Why don't we just force him to heal then beat him up some more, send him to the hospital. That way that suspicious guy will think twice about chasing us around when his boyfriend might get hurt.”

 

The guy over Yixing walked over to the girl and pulled her into his arms. “You're so cruel, but that's why everyone wants to fuck, you, huh.”

 

“Let go of me or I'll fuck you,” the girl growled. “I can do that.”

 

“Arbokian-XDAs are so feisty,” the guy said and let her go.

 

“Who do you need me to heal?” Yixing asked. If that was all they wanted, Yixing thought it best  to go with what they asked. He already felt weak, he would probably pass out quickly from a beating and he could heal himself once he was in a hospital.

 

“That suspicious guy you hang around with,” the guy said, “he beat up a couple of our teammates a few days ago, bullets and such. We ain't got a healer available so they just cut off one of their arms. Layans can fix that, right?”

 

Yixing frowned, he'd never regenerated a whole arm before. “I can heal the bullet wounds, but the arm...Layans can, but I'm only half.”

 

The guy suddenly leaned down and grabbed Yixing by the collar pulling him up a bit. “What does that got to do with it? Can you do it or not? I don't care what happens to you, but that person is my brother. If you won't do it, you're useless. We'll stick you with the Crownoids and send your boyfriend pictures of your mangled body afterward, get him riled up. He'll be completely mad when he comes rushing in here, a perfect target wouldn't you agree? We’ve been wanting to take out that noisy bastard.”

 

Yixing thought about his situation for a moment. Technically, he was now part of the MIB, but he hadn't had any situational training, just combat and medical. These guys obviously didn’t know the MIB existed. How was he suppose to contact others? How did he tell the MIB he needed backup? Since he didn't know, he couldn’t use that to his advantage. He had to make himself useful. His eyes wandered over to the other guy in the room. He was tall and strong looking. His jaw seemed similar to Yifan's.

 

“Are you a Dracos?” Yixing asked.

 

The man on the bed looked surprised to be addressed. “Dracos-Arbokian.”

 

“But, you can turn into one the same?” Yixing asked.

 

The man nodded.

 

“Why are you asking him questions?” the guy from before asked.

 

Yixing turned to him with an unpleasant look. He tried to move his hands to check his pockets for his inhaler, but he already knew that wouldn't be enough and his hands were tied behind his back. “Do I have an inhaler on me?”

 

The guy and the girl both looked at each other before shaking their heads no.

 

Of course he didn't. Yixing sighed. “I'm a doctor, I've been healing all day. If you want me to heal a whole arm, I'm going to need large doses of carbon dioxide.” Yixing turned towards the man on the bed. “Have him drop his pants.”

 

The Dracos looked surprised, the girl looked disgusted, but the other guy seemed interested.

 

“Why?” the guy asked.

 

“Because Dracos are full of carbon dioxide or something,” the girl said. “Ugh, I'm not staying in here if he's getting fucked. I'll get your brother set up.” The girl walked to the bolted door and slid the bar out with ease before leaving. It was a heavy door, but not a particularly advanced door. Looking around a bit more, Yixing also noticed a couple vents. Maybe he could use those to get out after he had been left alone.

 

The guy looked towards his Dracos teammate. “You willing to get a blow job? He's a bit older than us.”

 

“He's kind of pretty though,” the Dracos finally spoke up. “How about we take pictures of this and send those to his boyfriend. They must not get along if he's willing to do this.”

 

The guy grinned and pulled out a phone. “Great idea. Hurry up and get your cock out. Actually, shift and do it. It's dirtier if you're all scaly.”

 

“I don’t see why my real form is dirtier,” the Dracos said.

 

“Just do it. His hands are tied anyways, he can't do anything.”

 

The Dracos decided to just undress completely. He was well built and attractive, but Yixing barely paid attention to his face. He concentrated on the large organ between the alien's legs. It was half hard, but still smaller than Yifan on a normal day. It was definitely slipperier than any Dracos dick Yixing had seen before. He attributed that to the Arbokian in the man. Suddenly, the man brought Yixing's face closer to his crotch.

 

“Open your mouth and suck it,” the Dracos said. “You're the one that asked for it.”

 

Yixing licked his lips and slowly covered them over the slit of the hybrids penis. Regret immediately filled his stomach. It wasn’t the regret stemming from the uncomfortable reluctance Yixing had felt with other guys Yifan tried to hook him up with, but not quite the uncertainty he had felt going home with Yifan for the first time. This was a deep and undefined feeling of dread. He lowered farther on the Dracos and started to bob going through the motions he had gotten use to with Yifan. When it started to get too big to stretch his mouth over, Yixing pulled off and started to kiss and lick around the base then back to sucking the tip. The Dracos moved a hand to Yixing's hair and pushed him down further on him. Yixing gagged and tears pricked his eyes. His chest hurt, his gut hurt, but it wasn't because he needed medicine.

 

Zitao.

 

The agent's smile. He wouldn't be smiling when he heard about what Yixing had done to get out of here. Zitao would be angry with him again, wouldn't he? Did he know about Yixing's situation with Yifan? Did he know for how many cocks Yixing had put in his mouth, he’d still never had penetrative sex? Did he know Yixing was regret in bodily form?

 

Yixing didn't want Zitao to know. Zitao was cool and cute, temperamental, but conscientious. He made Yixing's body tingle just being close.

 

Yixing made a choked noise around the Dracos dick and the Dracos moaned.

 

“That felt good, more,” the Dracos said.

 

Yixing hadn't meant to do it and he hadn't meant to repeat it.

 

“Is he crying? You're fucking sick if you like him crying?” the guy said still taking pictures.

 

Yixing didn't want to cry. He wasn't really. He was trying not to, but he felt...disgusting.

 

“Let's make him cry more. Do you think Layans can take carbon dioxide up their butts?” the guy asked and put his phone down to move around Yixing. He grabbed Yixing's belt and started to undo it.

 

Yixing started to struggle, but the Dracos' hand in his hair kept him from moving too much. It was alright, it was fine, he'd get this guy off before they could do anything to him.

 

“You're not into...mnh...guys unless they're hermaphrodites,” the Dracos said to his teammate.

 

“Aren't Layans all agender, though,” the guy said.

 

“But he's half,” the Dracos argued. “Ah, yes, deeper...mnh...what if he gets pregnant, we ain't got condoms.”

 

“Do you really care about that?” the guy asked. “I'm just going to get him ready for you. He's a pretty hot doctor. If you fuck him enough maybe he'll agree to join us.”

 

“Let's...figure that out later, I'm going to bust, but you’re giving me blue balls talking,” the Dracos said and started to thrust his hips up into Yixing's mouth.

 

Yixing gagged. He wished he could have said this was the worse experience with a blow job he'd had, but there was the glory hole in college after breaking up with his girlfriend and the guys he had messed around with just to get them to leave him alone. Finally, he felt the explosion in his mouth. It was bitter and stung a bit, like strong not well made alcohol, going down his throat, but that was all Dracos semen. He got it down and moved his head away. He didn't feel as relieved as he had with full blooded Dracos. There wasn't an immediate effect. He just felt dirty.

 

“Look at him, what a dirty slutty doctor,” the Dracos said.

 

“Hey, what if we just stretched his hole then you fucked his thighs and we took pictures of that. He's gotta cum at some point. It'll piss that suspicious guy right off.”

 

“I'm not a rapist,” the Dracos argued.

 

“You're not gonna stick it in. If you cum on him, he can just lick it off himself. Win-Win.” The guy started to pull Yixing's pants down.

 

“Wait, stop,” Yixing said and turned his body around. “I didn’t agree to this.”

 

“See, he's not cool with it,” the Dracos argued.

 

“I don't care if he's cool with it. He's going to heal my brother or else he'll get something worse than what we're doing to him,” the guy argued. His eyes were red, a pure sign of an Arbokian. Yixing started to fight more.

 

“I already agreed to heal him. Get off me!”

 

Suddenly, one of the vents popped open and a small ball like device fell out.

 

“What the fuck is that?” the Dracos asked.

 

The other Arbokian hybrid moved towards it just as the ball popped and smoke filled the room along with a high pitched sound. Yixing barely heard the sound of another vent being opened with his ears splitting and felt himself get tugged away. He was pulled through one of the vents.

 

“Crawl,” a familiar voice instructed.

 

Yixing obeyed it and started to blindly crawl, difficult with his hands still tied behind his back, until the smoke cleared and turned his head to see Zitao behind him with some sort of dark goggles over his eyes. “Zitao?”

 

“Let's get out of here first, then ask questions.”

 

Yixing nodded and continued crawling.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

 

The vent led out to an alley close to the laundromat Yixing used. The building they had climbed out of  was part of an old apartment complex, perhaps a dinner the manager had owned once in their younger days, but now it held an underground lair for Hybrid Arbokian delinquents. The air outside was still and dry. Yixing half expected sirens and police cars with his rescue. He turned to Zitao as he climbed out after him.

 

“Where's the rest of your force? Shouldn't we keep running?” Yixing asked.

 

“It was just me and no, they won't follow. I searched out the place, it's just a small group. This wasn't an official raid so we'll deal with them another time,” Zitao said. “For now they're going to have to figure out where to move the stuff they had stored there before the raid does come. I saw a lot of crates before I found you.”

 

“Oh..well, thank you for coming after me,” Yixing said.

 

“Did you need me to save you?” Zitao asked.

 

Yixing looked at the agent confused. “What do you mean? I don't have any weapons. I had a plan, but...”

 

“You have your body,” Zitao said. He wasn't looking at Yixing. “I'm sure you could have gotten away using that or maybe you would have stayed.”

 

Every nerve in Yixing's body tightened up then loosened in a harsh shiver. “Zitao, how long were you in that vent?”

 

“Long enough,” Zitao said and walked up to Yixing. He grabbed Yixing’s arm and turned him around finally cutting his hands free. “I heard them say you asked to do it.”

 

Yixing lowered his head. “I did.”

 

Zitao pushed Yixing away from him and started down the alley way. “Next time, you can save yourself.”

 

“Zitao!” Yixing yelled. “Zitao, wait! Quit jumping to conclusions. It’s not like I wanted to do it.”

 

The agent stopped mid step. He stood silently for a moment before speaking. “Then why did you?”

 

“They...they wanted me to heal someone. I figured if I healed people, they might go easy on me or it would keep me the most safe until someone came and found me. I was complying, but...Zitao, I'm not good at it. I'm weak and they lost my inhaler when they kidnapped me,” Yixing said.

 

Zitao turned. “Your inhaler? They doped you up just yesterday.”

 

Yixing looked away ashamed. “I took Jongdae to work and helped out. I was tired so I used my powers. It shouldn't have mattered since I was suppose to rest the next couple days. Dracos...I've done it before, Zitao. I've done what I could to live and still help people. Do you..do you hate me?”

 

Zitao lifted his head to the sky and sighed. “No...no I don't hate you, Yixing.” He turned back to Yixing, with his fists clenched. He looked down and moved closer to Yixing. “I was...surprised, but I couldn't let them hurt you. I do have a problem with jumping to conclusions. I was trained to go with my instincts, but my instincts are all twisted when it comes to you.”

 

Yixing reached out weakly for Zitao. His stomach felt queasy. The Arbokian-Dracos semen didn't agree with him. He felt light headed and stumbled into Zitao's arms.

 

“Hey, Yixing,” Zitao said as he crumbled onto the floor holding Yixing's weight. “Don't pass out on me again.”

 

Yixing shook his head then scrambled out of Zitao's hold and off into a corner of the alley. He heaved a few times before retching up the nasty memory of his kidnapping. His eyes were hot. He wanted to cry. There was a hand suddenly rubbing his back.

 

“There's blood,” Zitao said. “Did they kick you?”

 

“A couple times,” Yixing responded. “I'll be fine.”

 

Another pressure joined the patting hand, this one on his shoulder and Yixing could feel hair tickling his neck. “I'm sorry I got you into this.”

 

“What? The kidnapping? Jongdae was already a friend of mine,” Yixing said.

 

“They kidnapped you because of me. You're a hybrid, I couldn't have swiped your memory even if I had tried, but I should have tried. I should have just snuck in and gotten my case. I should have ignored you at the club,” Zitao said. His voice got softer and softer.

 

Yixing wiped his face with his lab coat sleeve. “I get myself into enough trouble, you don't have to blame everything on yourself.”

 

“Then let me apologize for overreacting every time,” Zitao said. “This hybrid group isn't something new. I lost someone to them a long time ago, I won't lose someone again.”

 

Someone. “Am I someone to you, Zitao?” Yixing didn't want to turn and look at Zitao. For one, he probably had terrible breath and two, he probably looked worse. But, mostly, he didn't want to know what sort of face Zitao made. Yixing didn't deserve to be someone.

 

“Yes,” Zitao said softly. His breath was on the back of Yixing's neck now. “The MIB isn't as strict as you might think. I'm allowed a personal life. It has been a long time since I've had one, but maybe I want one with you.”

 

“No you don't,” Yixing said. He felt warm.

 

“Maybe not right now,” Zitao said and chuckled. “You smell terrible.”

 

Yixing curled up more as he felt Zitao move away.

 

“Here, I have water,” Zitao said and held out a water bottle. When Yixing reached for it, Zitao pulled it away. He was grinning again. “Do you like me, Dr. Zhang?”

 

Yixing looked at Zitao with wide eyes then at the bottle. Zitao was a black hole. Yixing knew almost nothing about him, but what he did know clashed together. Sometimes Zitao acted smooth and other times he tried to act cold. Yet, with the quickened beating of his heart, Yixing found himself pulled closer and closer to Zitao’s singularity. If he reached it, would what Yixing not know matter? “Yes.”

 

Zitao moved the water bottle closer to Yixing so he could grab it.

 

Yixing took it and gargled some in his mouth before spitting it out trying to get the taste of semen and vomit out. He choked on his next gulp as Zitao moved closer to him and started rubbing his back again.

 

“I like you, too, Yixing.”

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

 

“So, how has your vacation been?” Junmyeon asked over the phone line.

 

Yixing settled himself on a bench in a park close to his apartment while he waited for Luhan to join him. “I've barely started it.”

 

“You must have at least gotten some sleep. And I made sure to make it easier on you these past couple days. It was my shift you overworked yourself on,” Junmyeon said. “Perhaps I can meet up with you for lunch one day.”

 

Yixing smiled softly and picked lint from his trousers. “That would be nice. You should bring Kyungsoo.”

 

“You actually want me to bring Kyungsoo?” Junmyeon asked surprised.

 

“Yes,” Yixing replied then thought about it. Usually he asked if Junmyeon would be bringing his boyfriend, not that he should. He felt as content as he ever did talking to Junmyeon, but something was very different, something had started to be different since the start of the month. He had met Zitao and Zitao had said he liked Yixing. “You two are cute together.”

 

Junmyeon laughed. It was still a delightful thing to hear and broke his heart but in the way a good movie could be heart breaking. “Are you planning to bring someone, too?”

 

“No.” Yixing hadn't seen Zitao all week. Honestly, he didn't know how to contact his supposed partner. Zitao had made sure he got home safe after explaining that Yixing would need a bit more training before any actual missions and gave him a tracker earring with a distress call if Yixing found himself in trouble again. Yixing missed Zitao. He barely knew Zitao, but he missed him. A fellow doctor who was head over heels in love with someone else and a secret agent whose life he had saved – the sort of men that actually made Yixing's heart race were all over the spectrum.

 

“That no didn't sound convincing,” Junmyeon said.

 

“I'm not dating anyone,” Yixing insisted.

 

“But there is someone,” Junmyeon said and there was silence between them for a few seconds. “It's fine if you don't want to talk about them. Though, it would be nice if you took this vacation as time to delve into your personal life. I know you go to clubs sometimes. Minseok has already said he'll take you again. You told me you had a good time last time.”

 

Yixing's lips quirked. Last time he'd had Zitao's hand down his pants and a Crownoid chasing after him. “It was interesting.”

 

“I have to go back to work. Have fun on your vacation. I hope your roommate doesn't take too long to meet up with you.”

 

Yixing looked around. He thought he spotted a familiar beanie down the sidewalk at an ice cream stand. “I think he's close by. Bye.”

 

Junmyeon hung up with a few more words. Yixing slipped his phone back into his pocket and watched Luhan stroll over to him with two ice cream cones, one with a single scoop and the other layered with seven different flavors. He handed Yixing the single scoop as he sat.

 

“Hungry?” Yixing asked.

 

“It's a challenge they have going. And I didn't know which flavor to get,” Luhan complained and started to lick at his ice cream.

 

Yixing chuckled and started at his own.

 

“I'm glad you got a vacation, but I'm not approving of your new status with a certain alien group,” Luhan said.

 

“Did Jongin tell you?” Yixing asked.

 

“You're his temporary replacement, of course he would,” Luhan said, ice cream starting to leak down his hand.

 

“It's only a temporary thing. Zitao said it was safer if I just worked for them.”

 

“Sure, and it's not because your boyfriend just wants to keep you all to himself.” Luhan rolled his eyes.

 

“He's not my boyfriend,” Yixing countered.

 

“He should be.” Luhan didn't look at Yixing, he looked off into the distance as he ate. Yixing had known Luhan long enough to know his roommate was trying to get at something deeper. Yixing didn't want that.

 

“What about your boyfriend? How are you two doing. I only ever see him when he comes out of your room for breakfast when I'm still at the apartment,” Yixing said.

 

Luhan sighed. “He's a hassle. Honestly, I feel so drained dealing with him. I know I'm the one with the bigger sex drive, but he's such a mushy guy. It's sickening sometimes.”

 

Yixing hummed. “You're just saying that. You don't dislike him.”

 

“Well, I guess not. The honeymoon stage is over I suppose,” Luhan said and stared at his ice cream. “I wonder what pickles would taste like with this.”

 

Yixing raised a brow. “Disgusting probably. I wish I could see you guys together more.”

 

“And I wish you would get a boyfriend and stop vicariously living through other people's romances,” Luhan said and bit into the next layer of ice cream.

 

Yixing frowned and bit part of his cone. He chewed then turned back to Luhan and reached a hand out towards his roommate's beanie grabbing onto a hard point and tugged. Luhan's head went to the side and his mouth knocked a half eaten scoop of ice cream onto the ground.

 

“Yah! You better be glad I didn't like that flavor Dr. Zhang! What are you doing?”

 

“Your horns are getting longer,” Yixing said. “I'll get you a supply of cloaking vitamins so start learning how to do your hair. You're a grown up now.”

 

Luhan made a face and took a bigger bite of the next scoop only to freeze up and hold his head in pain. Yixing laughed.


	10. I'm Scared

**10\. I’m Scared**

 

    There was a knock on Yixing's door in the dead of night at the end of Yixing's first week of vacation. Luhan had come home not long before and, at first, Yixing thought it must be Jongin stumbling in after having argued or some other delay, but Yixing specifically remembered hearing two sets of giggles from down the hall earlier. Yixing got out of bed and went to answer surprised to see Sehun and Chanyeol meandering up and down the hall.

 

Sehun was the first to notice and turned his head to Yixing. “Do you own black clothes?”

 

Yixing tilted his head to the side. “Yes, why?”

 

Chanyeol walked over. “We're taking you practicing. Actually, it's a routine mission, but it will have to do as practice for you. Wear something you can run in that’s black.”

 

Yixing went back to his room and slipped on a pair of black workout pants and a black jacket over a black tank. He didn't have black sneakers and opted for his oldest pair of hospital sneakers he wore on long shifts instead. He didn’t bother with his glasses. Sehun and Chanyeol side eyed his shoes, but said nothing and led Yixing down the hall.

 

“Don't worry about your roommate, Kai knows,” Chanyeol said.

 

Sehun was jiggling the handles of random doors until one finally opened. He stepped inside. Chanyeol stayed back and let Yixing walk in first. They ended up back at the MIB headquarters.

 

“This way, we don't have long to prepare,” Sehun said. He led them to a room filled with weapons. Sehun handed Yixing a different briefcase from the one Zitao had bought him. This one could strap to his back as well as hold  an assortment of weapons inside and on its surface. The largest weapon, a sniper rifle, Sehun pushed into Yixing's chest. “This is a tranquilizer gun. This is what you're going to be using.”

 

“Where are we going?” Yixing asked.

 

Chanyeol cleared his throat. “It's a pocket dimension of sorts. Instead of being a world inside another world, it is a world that can only be reached through another world. We routinely visit it to understand the physics of this world as it is different from the ones we know. However, it is extremely dangerous. It is a hostile world as far as we can tell. It's hard to study since our time is limited from thirty minutes to an hour at most.”

 

“What is our job, just to explore?” Yixing asked. And where was Zitao, but he didn't ask that question.

 

“Your job is to stay safe and shoot at anything that attacks us,” Sehun said. “They need to see you actually at work before you're sent with Zitao, and honestly, his jobs don't really require support, but someone on standby would make him take less risks.”

 

Yixing frowned at the thought of Zitao forgoing safety to finish a task, but he thought it was also admiral in a sense. “Okay, so just put something to sleep.”

 

“Easier said than done,” Sehun said and led them out of the weapon room and into the rounded maze like halls of the MIB headquarters. They entered another room with a taped off wormhole and a female Shade typing away at a computer.

 

“It's almost set up. There has been a lot more activity recently, just don't get touched by the worm faces. We've learned they're poisonous,” she said.

 

Worm faces? Yixing didn't like the sound of that. He noticed Sehun grinning at him.

 

“What?” Yixing asked.

 

“How are you with scary stuff?” Chanyeol asked. His face seemed a bit whiter for someone whose skin glowed with liquid lava.

 

“So-so,” Yixing said. Luhan was always so much more scared than him. He thought he was pretty tame.

 

“It's done,” the Shade said.

 

“Well, at least you'll do better than my first time,” Chanyeol said. “This pocket dimension is nicknamed the Horror Dimension. Just, try not to scream.”

 

Yixing nodded and he entered the wormhole.

 

It was still an unreal feeling passing through a wormhole. Yixing took a moment to steady himself before going at a slow trot to follow after Sehun and Chanyeol. Yixing wanted to call it a forest. The structure of what he supposed were plants were shaped more industrially, many just looked like walls that held nothing or elaborate abstract flowers reaching up towards a red smoky haze of a sky. But, the texture of the plants were organic. They weren't soft and silky like Yixing was used to feeling. If he was to reach out and feel one, Yixing thought it would be very much similar to the sensation of sticking his hand inside a human body. They were red and pink and veiny.

 

“Grossed out yet?” Sehun asked.

 

“It's like I'm inside of a person,” Yixing said. “Are the plants made out of meat?”

 

“He's a doctor, Sehun,” Chanyeol reminded his partner.

 

Sehun made a face and continued on. They stopped at a swirling black mist. On closer look, it appeared to be more of a swirling black web of yarn like spiders.

 

“It's a door,” Sehun said then pointed up at one of the tall abstract plants. “If you go through it, you'll end up on top of that. That's where you'll be sniping from.”

 

“I have to go through the spider portal?” Yixing asked.

 

“They're not alive,” Chanyeol assured. “At least I don't think they are. They're a space warp. It might tickle a bit.”

 

Yixing stepped through and covered his mouth as he landed with a squish on the top of the plant. It had tickled. He let the tingles subside from his body before going over to the edge of the squelching plant and looked down. Sehun and Chanyeol were both waving at him.

 

“Keep an eye on us,” Sehun yelled into the spider portal.

 

Yixing could hear it from where he had dropped onto the plant though he couldn't see a portal anywhere around him, the exit invisible. He just held a thumbs up over the edge of the flower like plant.

 

It was amusing to watched the agents stutter around the foreign space poking at stuff with gloved fingers. Yixing caught sight of a few animals. There was one that looked like a skinned rabbit crossed with a foot tall horse that jumped past the agents and nibbled at their feet until Chanyeol knelt down to pet it with a plastic bag covered gloved hand. Off in the distance Yixing saw a giant creature reaching up with a long neck and clamping onto one of the tall abstract plants, sucking until part of the plant turned white, but it walked the other way. It was when they had reached forty-five minutes that Yixing spotted something that gave him pause. There were people just taller than normal Earthlings he spotted only through his lense. They were thin and Yixing didn't exactly see a head. They had multiple arms that waved around like noodles. He wondered if these were the worm heads the Shade had warned them about. They were poking at creatures in a cage forged from an unfamiliar substance with even more unfamiliar weapons. The creatures were large and round and fat like a pig. They fought against the walls of their prison until they finally broke it and ran out. The noodle people scattered away. Yixing followed the animals with his scope. He couldn't hear them nor could he see a close up of their face, but he could tell in which way they were running. Yixing moved his sniper in the direction of Sehun and Chanyeol and shot off a warning shot. Both agents looked at the shot landing useless in the squelching dirt then looked around and started to hustle towards the door that led to where Yixing was. The creature came first and barreled into Sehun. He managed to cover his face with his clothed arm before the creature made contact and Yixing used the slowed momentum to dart the creature and the three more that followed before the area was still again.

 

“Agent Lay,” Chanyeol yelled into the door. “Jump to your right. There's a door in the middle of the air that will lead you close by.”

 

The unfamiliar name caught Yixing off guard, but he turned to his right and looked down. There was indeed another spidery hole a few meters from where he was. Yixing took a running leap and fell into it. He landed on his butt on the opposite side of one of the wall like plants next to the other two agents. Yixing dusted himself off and walked over to them. Chanyeol was pouring water onto Sehun's sleeves that were melting off.

 

“Get bandages,” Chanyeol said.

 

Yixing grabbed his briefcase off his back and softly moved Chanyeol aside. “I can handle the doctor stuff.”

 

Chanyeol seemed reluctant, but smiled and went over to one of the creatures beginning analyze it. Sehun just sat with his lip jutted out staring at the ground.

 

“Couldn't have shot it before it rammed me?” Sehun asked.

 

“It's fat, but fast,” Yixing said. “Is that a worm face?”

 

Sehun nudged his head in the direction of one of the creatures. “What do you think?”

 

Yixing glanced over at them and gagged. The creatures' faces were literally worms with a hole of rounded teeth in the middle. It looked sicker than anything Yixing had seen in his years as a doctor.

 

“Why would those noodle people try and eat those?” Yixing asked.

 

Both Chanyeol and Sehun looked at Yixing with wide eyes. “Noodle people?”

 

“They were like a tribe and they had those things in a cage. I figured that meant they wanted to eat them,” Yixing said.

 

Chanyeol stood and took up Yixing's tranquilizer. “While you finish bandaging up Sehun, I'm going to go have a look.”

 

“Hey, wait, that's not fair. We've only got ten minutes left,” Sehun yelled after his boyfriend. When Chanyeol seemed to ignore his partner, Sehun went back to pouting as Yixing wrapped his exposed skin up. “See if I fuck him gently tomorrow night, the bastard.”

 

Yixing didn't really understand what was so great about the noodle people, but he laughed anyway. These MIB agents weren’t very intimidating.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

It was raining when Yixing exited the wormhole Sehun and Chanyeol led him to. They had been stuck in a meeting Yixing could barely understand about their findings. Apparently, it was a big deal to find intelligence verging on human, a term not solely reserved for Earthlings, but aliens with similar and potential for similar intelligence. In a few hours, the sun would be up, though Yixing didn't think sunbeams would make it through the thick of the clouds. A full out storm was coming. Yixing didn't have an umbrella on him. Looking around, he realized he was on the other side of his neighborhood. It would be a long run. Yixing checked for a wallet. No wallet, but he found some cash in one of his pockets, more than some. There was a little black sticker on one of the bills engraved with an unfamiliar symbol. His pay, Yixing assumed, slipped in before he left the headquarters when he wasn’t looking. He hurried to the nearest convenience store.

 

One small black umbrella later, Yixing was out in the rain splashing his gray tennis shoes in puddles he found along the way. He would have to get a taxi to take him home, but he didn't see any close by. Something running across the street up ahead caught Yixing's eye. There was a dark figure crouched down on the sidewalk. As Yixing walked closer, he could see a cardboard box. There was a soft whining coming from inside it. The crouched figure had a hand reached out towards the box set up against a wall on the sidewalk. Yixing watched from the other side of the street. A few seconds later, a white head of a puppy popped over top of the box and licked the outstretched hand of the figure. The figure moved to petting the small dog then reached out and scooped it up into their arms, wrapping it in the dark poncho they wore.

 

Zitao.

 

A smile came to Yixing's lips as he watched the agent cuddle the small wet puppy. He had a bunch of gear hooked to his legs and goggles on his head. Yixing assumed Zitao was working, but he had stopped to help a dog. Yixing looked at the cardboard box and noticed it was labeled with quickly scrawled words: FREE PUPPY. When his eyes went back, to Zitao, the agent was smiling and tickling the small dog. Yixing's chest tightened and his smile grew wider.

 

A loud crash sounded from an alley down the street. Zitao turned to it as did Yixing. When he turned back, Zitao was placing the dog back into the box. He stood there staring at the whining animal and a few curious late night wanderers walked by ignoring the small dog and weird dark clad man. Zitao took in a deep breath then reached under his poncho to pulled out a pen. He crossed out the previous writing then added: OWNER FOUND BRB. He seemed satisfied with his work then frowned when thunder cracked nearby. He started to remove his poncho. Yixing found his legs moved without his willing them. He crossed the street towards Zitao in only a few quick strides.

 

“Zitao!”

 

The agent turned hearing Yixing. His lips quirked and then he took a step back. “Yixing? Are you done with your training mission already?”

 

“They just dropped me off down the street, you...the dog...” Yixing found it hard to find his words now faced with Zitao after a week of not seeing him. The last time they had talked, Zitao had said he liked Yixing. Yixing had been fighting the urge to dissect that statement. He would make it mean less because it couldn't mean more.

 

Zitao frowned and started jumping on his feet. “I want it, but I'm in the middle of a mission right now. I know where they're located, I was just biding my time when I saw it.”

 

“I'll hold it until you get back. It looks like a purebred and just recently dropped off. Someone will take it and your coat if you leave them here,” Yixing said.

 

“You’ll watch it?” Zitao asked.

 

“Yes, I'll stay right here with it, I promise,” Yixing said. “I even have an umbrella. We'll wait for you to come back.”

 

“Alright,” Zitao said and pulled a stick like thing from one of his thigh belts. “It's kind of like a lightsaber. You really shouldn't be running around by yourself in the dark when you were recently kidnapped.”

 

Yixing's face reddened, but he took the device and pocketed it. “We'll wait for you.”

 

Zitao nodded. “I'll be back.”

 

Yixing watched at Zitao left then moved to squat beside the box. He held a hand out for the puppy to lick. It took longer than it had with Zitao, but eventually, Yixing was able to pick up the soaking wet puppy. He held it like a baby close to his chest as best he could and kept the umbrella angled towards the pouring rain. Ten minutes more and it was a full downpour. Every drop against his newly acquired umbrella made him cringe and the thunder cracks scared the small dog. He should have offered to take the puppy back to his house, but he wasn't sure if a taxi at this time of night would let a dog inside of it nor would he know what to do with taking care of one even if he thought dogs were cute. His adopted mother’s dog was large and already an adult usually kept outside and the puppies and mother dog he had saved in middle school had only been with them for a day.

 

Besides, he had promised to stay right there until Zitao returned.

 

And Zitao had promised to return.

 

The thunder grew louder.

 

Yixing could see the streaks of lightning if he peaked out from under his umbrella.

 

But, Zitao promised he would return.

 

The wind was bad. Any longer and Yixing would be forced to find shelter or risk having his umbrella blown away.

 

He promised.

 

But, Yixing would understand if Zitao couldn't. Yixing would understand if he decided he was too tired after his mission to take care of a puppy and went back to wherever it was he lived. He would understand even if it took Zitao five hours to tell Yixing there had been a change of plans, but he had promised to sit right there and wait.

 

It wasn't five hours, but an hour did pass before Zitao returned.

 

“You waited,” Zitao said

 

Yixing peeked out from under the umbrella to see Zitao out of breath staring down at him with wide eyes, newly bleached hair flat on his head and soaked just like his clothes.

 

Yixing blinked through the falling rain. “You came back...for the puppy.”

 

Zitao shook his head. “I came back for both of you.” He reached his hands out towards Yixing, but pulled them back. They were covered in blood.

 

“Are you hurt?” Yixing asked as he stood up balancing his umbrella with one hand and the puppy in the other.

 

“No, it's not my blood, but...the dog...I can't...” Zitao said.

 

Yixing looked at Zitao's hands then the dog. “Right.”

 

Zitao shuffled his feet then leaned down and cocked his head to the side looking at Yixing. “Will you come to my place? It's a couple blocks away. We can avoid most of the rain in the alleys.”

 

Zitao's place? Yixing wanted to see. “I'll carry the dog for you.”

 

Zitao smiled and began to lead the way.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

“Um, here it is,” Zitao said as they entered Zitao's apartment. “Home sweet home.”

 

Zitao's apartment was much bigger than Yixing would have guessed. And emptier. From the outside, Yixing had noticed the old but expensive style of the building intertwined with the modern look of larger glass panels. It reminded Yixing of the clock towers he had seen on the internet in Europe. The apartment itself was mostly brick and wood with large opened spaces sectioned off by pillars and a small hall when you first walked in with doors that led to the bathroom and extra bedrooms. Zitao walked straight into the open plan living room and dining area and tossed his poncho onto a curved chair. Yixing thought it looked familiar, he had seen it in a magazine not long ago by an artist with a name he dared not try and pronounce.

 

“It's spacious,” Yixing said. “Lots of room for the dog to run around.”

 

“Yeah,” Zitao agreed and started to pull off the many straps on his legs and torso holding weapons and other instruments.

 

“How many rooms is it?” Yixing asked.

 

“Three bedrooms and two baths. The livingroom and kitchen are open plan.”

 

“Do you have roommates then?”

 

Zitao started working off his shirt. “No, but I don't like small apartments. They're lonely. Besides, the MIB pays me more than enough to live comfortably. You got a taste of that, didn't you?”

 

Yixing nodded. So that had been his pay. Yixing made a substantial amount of money as a doctor, but he also had a substantial loan to pay off and his own apartment was more than he had initially thought to pay for, but Luhan helped out.

 

“I'll wash up, do you mind staying with the dog until I come out?” Zitao asked successfully shirtless and headed to one of the doors down the hall.

 

“Sure, but...she's dirty as well.”

 

Zitao paused and turned. He looked at the dog then at Yixing looking him up and down as well. “There are towels in the bathroom by the kitchen. You can both get cleaned up in there. I won't be long.”

 

He went off to the bathroom.

 

It wasn’t difficult for Yixing to find the second bathroom and he set up a bath for the puppy. The puppy didn't seem to like the water at first, but Yixing made sure to keep it warm and scrubbed the curls until they were just the right kind of fluffy. He was reminded of the dog he healed in middle school and he checked the small animal over for any wounds. There were none and Yixing toweled her off before grabbing a blow dryer and fluffed her up until she was as cute as could be handled. Yixing wrapped her up in a towel and threw one over his own head before exiting the bathroom.

 

“Zitao,” Yixing called. He didn't hear any water running.

 

“In here,” Zitao responded.

 

Yixing walked into one of the bedrooms down the hall. It mostly just consisted of a thick mattress on the floor with a few low placed pieces of furniture. It was also very large. Zitao was leaned down organizing a box in nothing but a towel. Yixing slid the wrapped up dog onto the floor and let her wiggle around until she was loose. She seemed confused at first, whimpering. Zitao turned hearing the sound and she bounded over to him. His face was so soft and sweet as he picked up the dog he'd saved. Yixing smiled seeing it. His heart was beating fast and his stomach was calm, but still, there was a fluttering in him that made him want to be happy though he had no reason to be. Maybe just because Zitao was happy.

 

“It seems she's fine here with you. I should head home now.”

 

Zitao looked up at Yixing. Immediately, he frowned and stood taking large steps towards Yixing. “No, you're not going anywhere. I told you to dry up as well. You're soaked, haven't you noticed?”

 

Yixing knew he was soaked, but they were just clothes. He could take them off when he got home. “It's alright. I'll get a cab.”

 

“A cab won't let you in like this,” Zitao said and placed the dog on the floor. Then, he grabbed Yixing's wrist and led him to his bed sitting him down on the floor right in front of it. He grabbed the towel on Yixing's head and started to ruffle it into his hair. He moved the towel to scrub at Yixing's face and cupped it in between his hands. He stared down at Yixing with dark soft eyes. “Yixing, don't hurry home so quickly. I asked you to come.”

 

He did and he had and now it was time for Yixing to leave. The dog would be fine and other than a few cuts and scrapes, Zitao seemed fine. Instinctively, Yixing reached up to touch one of the cuts on Zitao's lips. There was a lightening flash followed by a loud crash of thunder outside a pair of large windows in Zitao’s bedroom and Yixing moved his hand back.

 

“Yixing, it's storming outside, don't go out there. Just sleep here, with me,” Zitao said, voice soft and pleading.

 

Yixing blinked at Zitao as he started getting out of focus without Yixing’s glasses on which he hadn’t grabbed before going with the other agents. Was his face closer? Yixing thought Zitao was moving closer to him. Then, there were lips against his own. They were chapped and didn't settle for long, but Yixing found his intended argument coming out as agreement as his words followed Zitao’s lips when they moved away. “Okay.”

 

Zitao smiled like he had at the puppy and let his hands fall away from Yixing's face. The towel draped around Yixing's shoulders as Zitao moved away to scoop up the puppy. “I'm going to put her in the bathroom. She's not potty trained and I don't want her running everywhere if she gets scared. I've got some peanut butter she can snack on until I go get dog food later. Get undressed, I'll be back.”

 

Yixing watched Zitao leave the bedroom then lifted the towel to cover his face. His skin previously cold from the rain water felt hot to him. His lips tingled. Footsteps headed back to the bedroom.

 

“I thought I told you to get undressed,” Zitao said with a purr lifting the end of every other word.

 

Yixing could feel him lean down in front of him then Zitao's hands were on him. Yixing had to let the towel fall as Zitao pulled his soaked jacket off then started to lift Yixing's tank top. The spots where Zitao's fingertips touched sparked. He had to hold his arms up for Zitao to remove his shirt. It came off fluidly and Yixing was glad not to be wearing his glasses for once. With the shirt gone, Yixing was left bared to Zitao from the waist up. Zitao himself left nothing much to be hidden. He could see Zitao hanging free beneath the towel through the spread overlap of cloth. His eyes moved up following the soft fuzz of dark hair over Zitao's shallowly chiseled abs and chest where it spread across just enough to be enticing. He swallowed thickly when his eyes finally met Zitao's. He had been watching it all. He seemed amused.

 

Zitao reached a hand out towards Yixing and rubbed his shoulder. “You're cold.”

 

Yixing shook his head. He felt hot, too hot.

 

“I can warm you up,” Zitao said.

 

Yixing shook his head again, but slower.

 

“You're nervous.”

 

Yixing didn't bother to nod.

 

Zitao pushed lightly on Yixing's shoulder urging him to scoot more towards the bed. “Just tell me to stop if you don't want it.”

 

Yixing didn't want it, but he did, he really did. The last time he had been undressed and caressed was such a distant memory it felt more like a mediocre dream. But, this was Zitao, sweet smiling dangerous Zitao. He was  trained to kill, but also had the audacity to pick up abandoned puppies on the side of the road. Yixing thought Zitao was absolutely ridiculous.

 

And absolutely wonderful.

 

Zitao moved his lips to Yixing's neck and began to kiss along Yixing's sweeter spots. They burned and Yixing gasped, body trembling from the sensation. Zitao snaked a hand down the rest of his body and pushed a hand down the waistband of Yixing's pants then past his underwear and started stroking him.

 

“Zitao,” Yixing moaned. He reached out and grabbed onto the back of Zitao's head as he continued to kiss him, moving up his neck and to his ear.

 

“I'll finish what I started the other night,” Zitao promised. His voice blew softly against Yixing's ear and made his whole body tremble more than the hand on his dick, pumping him with slow hard jerks. There was a chuckle. Zitao was chuckling. He continued to blow soft air against Yixing's neck and ear.

 

Yixing hated it. He'd always hated it, the feeling of breath against his neck. He hated it now, but in a different way. It tickled and it felt weird, but it felt good. Yixing was swelling in Zitao's hand faster than he ever had in his own. He could feel himself on the edge of release.

 

Zitao stopped. He took his hand out and grabbed Yixing's pants, pulling them down along with his boxers. Yixing was naked. He was naked and wet and spread out before Zitao. He heard the cap of a bottle and used the little strength he had from the explosion of pleasure to lift himself onto the actual mattress. His legs fell wide open when he laid down. He was ashamed by the display, but aroused by his own body's neediness. He was twitching everywhere.

 

Yixing had always wanted to have sex. His adopted Earthling mother was no angel and many of the textbooks on aliens had left no stone unturned when it came to mating habits. But, he didn't want to have sex like Yifan described his early lovers or how Luhan insisted he would join orgies when he reached sexual maturity (and then didn't). Yixing wanted to have sex like Junmyeon and Kyungsoo did. Or like how Baekhyun described his sweet slightly drunken night with Jongdae after eying each other across campus for months before the pizzeria's owner's memories were wiped.

 

Zitao's fingers slipped into him one by one. Slick and nimble, they worked magic inside Yixing and reached places Yixing didn't think to touch on his own. Zitao's mouth kissed at his stomach outlining the lines that were suppose to be Yixing's abs if he started hitting the gym again. They moved up to his chest, swiped a nipple, then back at his neck, blowing and sucking and Yixing didn't think he would ever be able to let Luhan close to his neck again with this kind of reaction.

 

Yixing's hips raised as he reached his climax with Zitao fingering the wall where his prostate was and then the fingers were gone and Yixing laid in a mess, delirious. Those hadn't been his hands. He touched his tingling chest with his own hands. His hands felt different, they made him feel different. That had felt amazing. Yixing moved his hands more on his chest, soaking up the last bit of pleasure in his skin. This felt good, but Zitao had felt amazing.

 

Suddenly, Yixing's wrists were above his head and he was face to face with Zitao. His dark eyes seemed darker, pupils blown with desire. “Stop, doing that,” he pleaded with a low growl.

 

Yixing grinned and reached his head up to meet Zitao's lips with his own. Zitao kissed him back and let Yixing's wrists go. Yixing wrapped them around Zitao's shoulders and parted his lips to kiss deeper, eyes fluttering. Zitao had a hand on one of Yixing's thighs holding him in place as he moved his hips in against Yixing's. There it was. Hot and thick between Yixing's legs ready to push in. He could feel the tip.

 

The tip. It froze Yixing’s whole body as if his veins had been filled with liquid ice. He was hyperaware of every place his skin touched Zitao’s, of where rain drops were still caught on thin hairs up and down his arms. He pushed at Zitao's shoulders and moved back onto the mattress away from Zitao. “No, no, no.”

 

Zitao stared at Yixing with wide startled eyes. “W-what? What's wrong? What happened?”

 

“I...I'm Layan,” Yixing said.

 

“I'm aware. You're also a hybrid and male,” Zitao pointed out.

 

“I can do gene splicing though,” Yixing said.

 

“You have to concentrate on doing that,” Zitao said.

 

“I know, but...mistakes happen,” Yixing continued. Mistakes happened, Yixing was proof of that. “In the Layan community, it happens, just not often. I...I'm sorry.”

 

Zitao shook his head. “You don't have to apologize. Is that all that's wrong? You don't want to get pregnant? Or did you just not want to at all?”

 

Yixing had wanted to. He was so ready for it to continue. But, he had a fear. He was male, not agender or a hermaphrodite. And if he could become pregnant through gene splicing, it would take so much concentration to create a whole set of ovaries and a womb to house a baby around the other parts he already had. Yet, he was still scared.

 

“I'm scared.”

 

Zitao sighed. “Alright, I understand. Stay here and make yourself comfortable.” He turned and walked out of the room a bit stiffly.

 

He was angry, Yixing was sure of it. He had gotten off then left Zitao to handle his problem himself. At least he hadn't called Yixing ridiculous or demand they use a different hole so they were even. Yixing laid on one side of the bed and covered himself. This was a horrible end to the start of a strange relationship. He was sticky and probably making Zitao's sheets sticky, but he just wanted to hide. Zitao had other bedrooms. There was no way he would return to this one tonight.Yixing would wake up in the afternoon and leave and ask Luhan to blabber on about his boyfriend or call Junmyeon until he was so filled with other people's love that his lack of it was a measly unimportant thing because they were happy and as long as there was happiness around him, Yixing didn't have to be.

 

The door opened. Footsteps padded over to the mattress on the floor then a body joined Yixing on the bed and under the sheet.

 

Perhaps Zitao only owned one mattress.

 

Zitao was warm as he pressed up against Yixing's back. He laid one arm around Yixing's waist and kissed along Yixing's shoulder. There was something slicker against his backside. Hard and slicker.

 

“You...” Yixing trailed off as his body grew warm.

 

Zitao's lips were at his ear again. “If it's just that one concern, there's an easy fix to it.”

 

A condom.

 

Zitao had willingly left with a hard on to go down the hall and get a condom. Lube, under the bed, condom, down the hall.

 

“Don't laugh,” Zitao whined and Yixing could feel his pout against his shoulder. “It was a new box.”

 

Yixing shifted and moved back against Zitao. It was an easy fix. Yixing never expected to be seduced so he didn't carry any with him, but no one had been willing to get one when Yixing mentioned his fear of unprotected sex while in the heat of it so Yixing always just left. He also hadn't liked them enough to even consider fighting them on it.

 

Yixing liked Zitao a lot.

 

Zitao moved his hand to Yixing's waist and started stroking his member slowly as he kissed at Yixing's shoulder again. “I still want you badly, Yixing. All you have to do is say no.”

 

Yixing didn't say no.

 

He didn't say yes.

 

He turned his body just enough to hook his leg behind him and over Zitao's hip. Zitao let go of his member to grab Yixing's leg and positioned himself. In only a matter of seconds he was inside. It was a little rough at this angle, but Yixing's body eased up when Zitao started to move. It felt so intimate like this. He couldn't see Zitao, but he could feel him. His chest moved against his back and the hotness of his member could be felt even through the condom. Yixing just laid there taking it in. He didn't have outrageous toys like Luhan. He kept them on the small side and creative, but Zitao was much bigger than them, but not so big that Yixing was intimidated. It felt strange, but organic. Maybe Zitao was suppose to be there, maybe he wasn't. Maybe this would be the only night they shared. A stormy night with stormy touches.

 

Zitao's hand moved under Yixing's head and he urged him to turn. Yixing turned his head and looked at Zitao through blurry eyes. Zitao looked at him the same, but softer. He captured Yixing's lips in desperate kisses changing angles every few thrusts. Thunder crashed and Yixing jumped then was washed back into pleasure as Zitao started petting him, his thigh, his stomach, then his member. The wind was loud, but it only urged Yixing to moved his hips with Zitao's.

 

Zitao stopped kissing Yixing. Yixing took deep pleasured breaths as the build reached its peak. He felt Zitao at his neck again, then nipping a spot close to his shoulder before sucking on it. Yixing came with a deep moan.

 

“Shh, shh,” Zitao said softly against his ear and finished still thrusting into Yixing.

 

His finishing groan was high pitched, but endearing and Yixing waited until Zitao had pulled out to turn and grab around his waist. Zitao seemed to want to clean up, but he gave in and held Yixing back.

 

Yixing didn't want to leave this bed. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to sleep.

 

He felt so full and happy he didn't want it to be a dream.


	11. I'll Tell You In A Minute

**11\. I’ll Tell You In A Minute**

 

    Yixing awoke to the sound of heavy steady raindrops and a rustling close by. He sat up feeling cold floor beneath his hands and a cushioned mattress against his legs, muscles aching, but in a quiet hum. He pushed himself back onto the bed properly and looked around the room. It was too large to be his and too empty. There was someone standing across the room in track pants and a tank top filing through drawers and muttering to themselves. They turned and smiled when they saw Yixing. Yixing's chest rose with warmth.

 

“You're awake,” Zitao said. “I'm sorry you ended up half on the floor. I move a lot in my sleep. I'll by a second mattress, then it'll be wall to wall. I didn't want to move you though. You looked cute sleeping all weird.”

 

Yixing's face warmed and he looked around him. The mattress was already large enough. He wrapped one of the white sheets around his naked form and moved to the edge of the bed where he remembered leaving his wet clothes, but found nothing.

 

“What are you looking for?” Zitao asked.

 

“My clothes.”

 

“They're in the wash.”

 

“How long until they’re done?” Yixing asked pulling the blanket tighter around him.

 

“Yixing,” Zitao called.

 

Yixing turned his attention back to Zitao only to be met by the other creeping upon him like a large cat stalking. A large cat, that was what Zitao reminded Yixing of when he walked.

 

“Good morning,” Zitao purred reaching out and cupping Yixing face with one hand.

 

Yixing didn't think it was morning anymore, but he responded all the same. “Good morning.”

 

Suddenly, Zitao leaned in and kissed Yixing. He didn't stay long, but it was hard enough not to be a peck. It left Yixing's skin tingling and Zitao just grinned.

 

“How are you feeling?” Zitao asked his grin turning into concern.

 

At first, Yixing didn't understand. He felt tired and groggy and hungry and more than a bit confused. But, it wasn't like he couldn't remember. He had had sex with Zitao. The agent had kissed him and cradled him and taken him. It had been so easy. Even when Zitao stopped, it just felt too easy. There was a bit of a sting in his bottom, but no more than a rough time on the toilet would cause, but there were spots on his skin that felt sore from Zitao's kisses. Yixing hadn't experienced many hickeys in his lifetime.

 

“I'm fine,” Yixing answered.

 

“I had brought some aspirin in,” Zitao said and pointed over at one of his dressers.

 

Yixing wiggled a bit. Sore, but nothing he couldn't handle. “I'm fine. I've experimented myself.”

 

Zitao smirked. “I see, how about just some water then.”

 

Yixing nodded and Zitao moved away to grab the glass handing it over. “You probably want to take a shower.”

 

“I don't have any clothes to change into,” Yixing pointed out.

 

“You can wear mine.”

 

“I...couldn't bother you with that,” Yixing said.

 

“I'm fine with my boyfriend walking around naked, but I don't have curtains,” Zitao said. Most of the living room is just windows.”

 

Boyfriend. Yixing was stuck on that. “Who?”

 

Zitao raised a brow at Yixing. “You. You don't want to be my boyfriend?”

 

“We had sex,” Yixing pointed out. That didn't always immediately lead to a relationship status if Baekhyun and Yifan were to be believed. “What do you want?”

 

The question made Zitao frown. “I want you to be my boyfriend, or lover more appropriately. I already told you I liked you. You said you liked me, too. Was it a different kind of like?”

 

Yixing shook his head. “I like you.”

 

“Then it's not complicated. We should just date. I know you have a time consuming job and so do I, but my job isn't so strict that I can't make time come  see you, Yixing.”

 

It felt weird to be confessed to by someone Yixing was interested in already. Was he suppose to believe Zitao? Junmyeon had gone years never reciprocating Yixing's feelings. But, Yixing had never pulled Junmyeon into a kiss in the middle of an alley or let him stick his hand down his pants just minutes before.

 

“Why do you want to date me?” Yixing asked.

 

Zitao stared at Yixing for a long time then reached out and grabbed Yixing's hand, smacking it against his chest over his heart. “This tells me to date you. Isn't that enough?”

 

“We barely know anything about each other,” Yixing argued, but he could feel the thumping of Zitao’s heart in his chest and it made him waver.

 

“We know the stuff others don't,” Zitao said. He sighed. “But, you're right. I know more about you than you do about me, but we can work on that. Can't we date, Yixing?”

 

“My last relationship was in college,” Yixing said.

 

“Then we're not that different. I can tell you like to move forward then take three steps back, Yixing. That's why I didn't know how to approach you, but here you are.”

 

“Here I am,” Yixing agreed. They'd had sex. Could they also be boyfriends? “I just don't know how to do this.”

 

“Complicated things are simpler than people think. Stop trying to dissect it. You're an ER doctor, you're suppose to be fixing things when they go wrong, not preventing them,” Zitao said. He moved in close to Yixing and touched his face. “For now, we can just do this.”

 

Zitao kissed him again. Slow and deep. Yixing tilted his head and kissed back. He wanted a boyfriend. He wanted to brag to Luhan as much as Luhan bragged to him. He wanted to ask Junmyeon out on double dates, he wanted to flaunt his sexual escapades in front of Yifan and Minseok and share dirty secrets with Baekhyun at the pizzeria. And, he wanted Zitao to hold him again. Zitao moved his hands to the sheet wrapped around Yixing starting to unwrap it, but stopped when there was a whining coming from down the hall.

 

“Candy,” Zitao sighed.

 

“Candy?” Yixing asked and wrapped himself back up.

 

“Yeah, I named her.” Zitao turned to his open door. “Candy! Candy! Come here! I let her out of the bathroom a while ago to get a smell of the place. She'd made enough of a mess in the bathroom I didn't think she'd make a mess running around. She might have peed though.”

 

Yixing chuckled.

 

Little paws pounded towards the door and suddenly a fluffy white ball was wagging its tail at them. Zitao turned and patted the floor and the puppy pounced towards him. He picked her up and settled on the bed with his back against the wall. Yixing moved closer to him and was pulled against Zitao's chest with the newly named Kandy plopped into his lap. She bounced around a bit too much and Yixing had to pick her up and put a pillow between her and his lap to pet her properly.

 

“She's happy,” Yixing said.

 

“I want to make you happy, too, Yixing.”

 

Yixing looked up at Zitao. “You like to back away from me. I was confused if you hated me because I am a hybrid.”

 

Zitao sighed. “Of course you would want to know about that. Agree to date me and I'll tell you.”

 

“Is it that personal?” Yixing asked.

 

“Yes.”

 

Yixing looked down at his lap where the puppy was beginning to settle down for a nap. “Can I babysit your dog if I'm your boyfriend?”

 

“You can babysit both of us if you want,” Zitao said and pulled Yixing closer. “I was still in China until I was twenty-two. I had an alien friend since I was very young. My family wasn't the richest and worked a lot, but my alien friend's family was always willing to take me in and feed me. When the SFPP found out that I knew what that family was, they were going to have my memory wiped, but, instead, I joined their organization. They sponsored me in my martial arts studies. I didn't have an interest in studying, so they put me in their military sect instead of continuing their sponsorship into college. I did go to college, but it was more of a rouse than anything. I met a girl there. She didn't look full Chinese, but she said she didn't know what her other race was. She was older than me, the same age as you, and I fell in love way too soon.”

 

“How old were you?” Yixing asked.

 

“I was about to turn twenty when we met,” Zitao answered. “I had an apartment similar to this, but smaller. It was airy and overlooked a beach. We use to pretend we were in California. It was like watching a movie of lovers too young to know there were different kinds of love – there's the kind that comes and goes like waves, the kind that lasts like aging wine in a cellar dusted off every now and then. But, this was the kind that was like a storm. It built suddenly and left with wreckage in its wake. When we had sex, I had only been with one other woman. I was aware everyone's bodies were different, but they don't teach you alien anatomy in that much detail when you're just a soldier and they needed a lot of soldiers. It was the peak of the Arbokian uprising.”

 

The Arbokians had reached an enlightened intelligence level due to their discovery of time travel. However, they had regressed as they became obsessed with the thought of ruling the universe with the system. There were rules to time travel. You couldn't fast forward through time that didn't exist and once you didn't exist in a time, you couldn't go back to it. As soon as you changed time, you had to live through it. The Arbokian society dwindled. So, they began breeding with others to grow stronger. In their natural forms, Arbokians resembled snakes in eye that were red and slim faces, but their skin was much the same as Earthlings, except for the ridges that formed in patterns on their bodies usually like a crown around their heads which could be covered up by hair, but was usually shaved in that area to make it more noticeable. Another place they showed up was in their genitalia.

 

“She was an Arbokian princess,” Zitao said. “We dated for a year and a half before men in black appeared in my apartment that I had shared with her and began ripping everything apartment. They then took me back to their headquarters and did much the same as what you and your friend and Kim Jongdae experienced. When I got back to my apartment, there was a message for me to save her. She admitted to being an Arbokian hybrid, but that she had never known her mother had held a royal position back on their home planet. She said they were going to marry her off to ten cousins. She told me she was carrying my child. Like an idiot I ran where she had indicated. They were waiting, though. I barely made it against one guy before I was pulverized. They dragged me onto a helicopter and dropped me in the fucking ocean. Do you know what it's like to be drowned?”

 

“No,” Yixing said. But, he did know what it felt like to be surrounded by air and not be able to breath it.

 

“Do you know what it's like to be drowned over and over and over again? There was a very old man I had often heard about during training with the SFPP. I went to him. He was an Arbokian hybrid who still dabbled in time travel. They were just little sheets of paper, but they worked. Over and over and over again I went to save her. I got further and further into the building she was suppose to be at and at the point I thought perhaps she was somewhere else, I found her.”

 

“Was she alright?” Yixing asked.

 

Zitao's face was hard as he stared into the distance. “She was just dandy. A perfect princess with Shades chained up like pets at her feet and guards blocking my way to her. I worked my way through them getting one more guard every time. All she did was stare at me with cold eyes. Every step closer, not once did she reach out to me. So, I stopped.”

 

“You stopped.”

 

Zitao turned his head into Yixing's hair. “I had wasted so much time. When I stopped I found out that it wouldn't have mattered whether I had reached her or not. She wasn't a prisoner and the MIB took out half the people in that building.”

 

“Was she one of them?”

 

“I don't know,” Zitao said. “If she was, then all that time was pointless. She can't live in a future she doesn't exist in. I found half my equipment bugged anyways, and the letter wasn't from her. Every time I washed up on shore was because the MIB were tracking me. When they found out I had been using time travel, they banned me from anything Arbokian related until recently. I regret it, the time traveling. Time doesn't stop for you to return. There are times where I'm not there to save this little dog and times where I'm not there to run into you in the subway.”

 

Yixing frowned. He didn't like that. “Then don't leave me in this time.”

 

Zitao wrapped both his arms around Yixing and brought him close. “I won't, but promise me the same.”

 

Yixing only nodded. Zitao hadn't forgotten about him last night in the rain and maybe it wasn't just because of the dog.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

They walked under an umbrella to the other side of the neighborhood with Candy on a little pink leash tripping over their feet. It wasn't heavy rain, just sprinkles and gray clouds, but Yixing liked the excuse to be close to Zitao, to his boyfriend. He had never known the agent lived so close to him, now he understood why he was always running into Zitao. It was a bit far away to walk, but not impossible and they had stopped to get essentials for the dog. Yixing carried his bag of dry clothes in one hand and the umbrella in the other while Zitao held the puppy's' leash and a shopping bag. They were silent most of the way to Yixing's apartment, but Yixing caught Zitao grinning to himself sometimes and it made Yixing happy to see him happy.

 

Candy was really cute. She would make anyone happy.

 

“Yixing, we're almost to your apartment,” Zitao said.

 

Yixing lifted the umbrella to see the outline of his building just down the street. “So we are.”

 

“Do you want to go on a date?”

 

Yixing turned to see Zitao crouched down to pull Candy into his arms. She had walked a long way and her fur was getting dirty. “A date?”

 

“Yeah,” Zitao said smiling at Yixing. “I want you to be my date to an alien ball. The Shade royals like to throw charity balls and invite all the SFPP. Technically, we're both MIB, but the MIB always get the invitations through the SFPP. Do you want to go? I promise it's a lot cooler than it sounds. Shades really know how to dance and throw a few Star Brights in there and you have an awesome party.”

 

“An alien ball?” Yixing mused. A date. “I don't have to wear a ball gown do I?”

 

Zitao laughed. “No, but I'll get you an outfit. Tuxedos won't work. So is that a yes?”

 

Yixing nodded.

 

“I'll pick you up Friday night.”

 

They started to walk again coming to Yixing's building much too quick. Yixing collapsed his umbrella under the awning to his apartment building and tried to offer it to Zitao.

 

“I can't carry that with Candy. I'm actually going to take her to the vet and buy a crate from the store across, so I'll take a cab back,” Zitao said.

 

“Oh.” Yixing let his arm fall to the side. He wanted to walk with Zitao to the vet, but maybe Zitao wanted alone time with his new pet. “Then I'll see you Friday.” He started to turn, but Zitao moved in front of him.

 

“I want to depart with a kiss, Yixing,” Zitao said and leaned in capturing more of the side of Yixing's mouth than full on his lips. He pulled away red and smiling.

 

Yixing pursed his lips. He wanted to smile, too. “I'll remember that.”

 

Zitao let a hand rest on Yixing's arm for a minute before he continued down the street.

 

Yixing watched until Zitao reached a cross walk and walked into the building taking the elevator up. His heart was beating faster. He thought about taking a few puffs from his inhaler to calm himself of the feelings building inside him. So much had happened since leaving his apartment last night. He had visited another whole dimension, founded a new species, held a helpless dog through a bad storm, and had sex for the first time.

 

When Yixing reached his apartment, it was oddly silent. “Luhan?”

 

Yixing made his way down the hall. The rain hadn’t let up until the afternoon, but perhaps his roommate was still at work or had gone to Jongin's house. “Luhan?”

 

There was a grown from Luhan's room and Yixing carefully pushed his roommate's door open. Luhan was laying in bed with a trashcan accompanying him and a cup of tea on the nightstand.

 

“Luhan, what's wrong?” Yixing asked coming up beside the bed and patted Luhan's face.

 

Luhan groaned again and opened his eyes. “I'm napping, why are you home so late?”

 

“You don't look good, Luhan. What happened?”

 

“What happened is Jongin's too rough.”

 

Yixing frowned and tried to pull the blankets off from Luhan that he had himself cocooned in.

 

Luhan fought him weakly to keep them on. “Stop that. He didn't hurt me. I've been nauseous in the mornings lately and feeling tired. He caught me throwing up this morning and made me tea and and wrapped me up like a burrito.”

 

“How long have you been feeling like this?” Yixing asked.

 

“Most of the week. The tiredness is probably from work. It happens,” Luhan said.

 

“Is Jongin worried about you?” Yixing asked.

 

“Yes, he made me call into work today before he left then kept calling me through the day, wouldn't let me sleep it off.”

 

“Luhan, get up.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I'm a doctor. You literally live with a doctor. You don't have to put this kind of thing off. I won't charge you for it, so get up.”

 

Luhan was reluctant, but he dragged his naked body over to a closet and started to slip into clothes.

 

Yixing pulled out his phone, but paused. He didn't have Zitao's number. They were suppose to be boyfriends and he didn't have his number. He scrolled down to possibly find anyone's number he could use, but stopped seeing a name in Chinese.

 

Huang Zitao.

 

When had he put his number in Yixing's phone? He smiled.

 

“Hello?” Zitao's voice asked from the other end. “We barely just split. Do you miss me already?”

 

Yixing did. “Luhan's sick. How do I get to the MIB medic center so I can look him over.”

 

“Jongin's mate? They'll let you bring him in. There should be something in your briefcase. A small chip looking thing. Just stick it on any wall and it'll hook you up to headquarters. They might be a bit pissy and first, but just make sure they know Luhan's XDA. Call me if you need anything more, or just call in general. I put my number in when you were sleeping.”

 

Yixing agreed and stared at the name a bit longer after he hung up.

 

“What are you looking at so fondly?” Luhan asked putting a beanie on his head.

 

Yixing reached out and ripped it off. “You don't need that. My boyfriend said I could take you to MIB headquarters to give you an exam.”

 

“MIB headquarters? No, wait, boyfriend!” Luhan grinned. “Oh, Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Briefcase-Thief. So that's where you disappeared off to all morning.”

 

Yixing frowned. He hadn’t meant to refer to Zitao as such, but the thought had been on his mind. He would have told Luhan eventually. “If you have time to make jokes then you must not be all that sick.”

 

“Nope,” Luhan agreed.

 

Yixing rolled his eyes and grabbed Luhan's wrist pulling him into the hall. “I'm giving you an exam now wait here while I fetch a wormhole.”

 

“Wormhole! I don't want to~.”

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

Yixing knew Luhan was afraid of heights. He didn't think wormholes counted as heights. The XDA was a trembling mess when they walked out of the wormhole and Yixing had to hold him up as he made his way to a receptionist's desk in the middle of the main lobby.   
  
“Can I...help you?” one of the receptionists asked looking between Yixing and Luhan.   
  
“I...I'm agent Lay. My friend here, he's XDA and isn't feeling well. I was told I could examine him here, but...I haven't been shown where the medic rooms are yet,” Yixing explained.   
  
“Lay?” The receptionist started typing onto a hologram keyboard in front of her and looking off into the distance. Yixing noticed a little glass sheet in front of one of her eyes held there magnetically by a clip in her hair. “The temporary Layan-hybrid field medic. You have been given clearance.” She reached under the desk and pulled out a small ball that whizzed into the air when she pressed a button on its top. “This ROVER will show you the way.”  
  
“ROVER? So it's a robot dog,” Luhan laughed.   
  
Yixing nudged his roommate off from him and moved closer to the floating ball. It wiggled and whistled before beginning to make its way to one of the many doors lining the main lobby that led down the circular maze of halls. Yixing grabbed Luhan's wrist and pulled him along.   
  
“How long have you been MIB, Yixing?” Luhan asked.   
  
“A couple weeks. I haven't done much with them. Zitao said it would keep me safer since I...I got myself into a bit of trouble,” Yixing said.   
  
“Well that's obvious. You've been in trouble since you met Zitao,” Luhan teased. “I know there's a lot of stuff going down. Jongin's given me advice on being safe as well.”  
  
The ROVER stopped sooner than Yixing expected. He placed his hand on a screen next to the chosen door and it slid open with a gush of cold air. Inside, it looked every bit like an alien hospital exam room. Yixing understood what most of the equipment was even if it did look strange. The ROVER followed them in and the door closed after.   
  
“Get undressed,” Yixing commanded.   
  
“How much undressed?”  
  
“Naked,” Yixing clarified.   
  
The ROVER made beeping noises and zoomed into a corner facing away from them.   
  
“Well at least it's polite,” Luhan said and began to strip.   
  
XDAs really were beautiful beings. Luhan's skin was creamy white and his torso and thighs had iridescent patterns similar to tribal style tattoos with little pearl like bumps spaced out along the swirls of the patterns adding another dimension of beauty. In particular, they shaped Luhan's stomach in an oval. All XDAs had a design around their stomach where a child might grow. Luhan turned and climbed onto the little cushioned examination table. The other marks on Luhan's body swirled in such a way that they brought attention to the other sexual organs of Luhan's body, like arrows pointing invitingly into those areas. It reminded Yixing that Luhan couldn't be considered a child anymore. Though, Yixing had never known Luhan as a child, by XDA regulation, he had been what might be considered a teen until this year. Sexually matured XDAs had one week every year where all they could think about was mating. Luhan could have had sex before this year, his first mating year, but he wouldn't have been considered an adult. Now he was.   
  
“Lay down on your back,” Yixing said and began to hook the machines to Luhan.   
  
“Ow, that hurt,” Luhan complained.   
  
“Of course it hurt, it's a needle.” Yixing grinned as he stuck another needle into Luhan. He had never been sexually attracted to Luhan no matter how beautiful Luhan was, but he was enamored with his best friend. He had always wanted to examine him. Other than a few minor cases, Luhan had never let him. He never let anyone touch him too much, really, not until Jongin.   
  
“Are you almost done preparing?” Luhan asked.   
  
“Yes, I'm just letting the machines get their readings,” Yixing said. He moved to Luhan's head and began to rub it. His fingers moved to the the base of small horns made from the same substance that made up the pearls along Luhan's tattoos. They were starting to branch out like a deer's antlers. “How does your head feel?”  
  
“I’ve been getting headaches,” Luhan complained. “But what do you expect, I've got two rocks growing out of my head.”  
  
“Be glad you'll have small ones. When they grow too big here on earth, they tend to just get cut off,” Yixing said and felt Luhan shiver at the thought of it.  
  
The machines started beeping and Yixing went over to read them. Getting samples using alien technology was so much easier than at the hospital. He frowned though. “Luhan, when did you meet Jongin?”  
  
“Um, a little over a month before my birthday. A coffee shop near the station had just opened. We both frequented it. Are we sharing boyfriend stories? How was sex with Zitao?”   
  
“Good,” Yixing answered and ignored Luhan's surprised face. He had something more to worry his friend with. “And when did you first have sex with Jongin?”  
  
Luhan's face immediately reddened. Yixing knew his roommate had been sexually active before the mating season, but that was fine since he'd already reached his birthday. “O-on my birthday.”  
  
Yixing looked up with a raised brow. “And when did you start dating Jongin?”  
  
Luhan looked away. “A month after my birthday.”  
  
“And when did you have sex with Jongin a second time?”  
  
Luhan sighed. “Our first date. Hey, don't judge me okay. He had been very obvious since day one that he wanted in my pants and I really wanted him in them. We jumped the gun and then it got awkward. He was very smooth about romancing me again.”  
  
“Okay,” Yixing said and looked through some of the cupboards and cabinets in the room before finding the jelly substance and monitoring equipment he was looking for. He put them aside first then pulled up a chair between Luhan's legs forcing them apart.   
  
“What are you doing?” Luhan squeaked.   
  
“I'm just checking to see if there's anything weird down here...Luhan, were you really so sick you couldn't clean down here?”  
  
“Yes! Jongin tried but I kicked him in the stomach.”  
  
“I'm going to have to clean you. I'm a doctor and your friend so don't freak out.” Yixing found a few clothes and got to work. “You're a bit roughed up, but I've seen you take it worse on your own.  Try to tone it down a bit more often. Other than that, I don't see anything out of the ordinary down here. Does your penis feel weird? I'm not going to touch it.”  
  
“No, it feels fine. Jongin let me do him first last night so it works if you were wondering,” Luhan said.   
  
Yixing nodded and stood grabbing the jelly substance and began to rub it onto Luhan's belly. It did look rounder. Yixing couldn't help an amused grin from pulling at his lips.   
  
“What?” Luhan asked eying Yixing.   
  
“I'll tell you in a minute.”

 

Yixing then picked up a monitoring device and began to press it around. Ah, there. Yixing didn't have the most experience with pregnancies, but Minseok was always willing to keep Yixing up on the know how, particularly with alien species. Yixing could see the little bundle of cells growing inside his friend on the screen of the device. It even had little arms and a Shade's tail growing. Yixing moved the image onto one of the monitors that Luhan could look at.   
  
“Yixing, what am I looking at?” Luhan asked.   
  
“An ultrasound,” Yixing explained.   
  
“An ultrasound of what?”  
  
“Of yours and Kim Jongin's baby,” Yixing answered and went to look back over the reports the systems had printed up before. “According to this, you're three months along.”  
  
“Three months? Look, I'm not saying I can't be pregnant. I'm a hermaphrodite and Jongin's a beast even with a condom on, but shouldn't it be like a month along? Mating week was only a month ago.”  
  
Yixing tilted his head to one side and looked at his clueless friend. “Luhan, did you use a condom any time before your first mating week?”  
  
“No. I mean we did, but not all the time. I can't get pregnant until my first mating week.”  
  
“I forgot your parents were conservative XDAs,” Yixing sighed and stood to pat Luhan's knee. “You can get pregnant as soon as you reach sexual maturity, Luhan. Your birthday was early enough that you could have easily gotten pregnant before your mating week.”  
  
Luhan groaned. “No I have to do a mating ceremony or else my parents will kill me.”  
  
Yixing laughed. “I'm sure you're not that upset over it. I don't think Jongin will be against it.”  
  
“Of course he won't, he loves me.” Luhan didn't seem too happy about it.   
  
Yixing didn't pressure his friend. He helped Luhan clean up and waited for him to get dressed.   
  
“Yixing, did you use a condom?” Luhan asked suddenly.   
  
“Zitao got one when I told him,” Yixing answered. He suddenly felt ill. Luhan was standing there looking even more tired than before and lost. Jongin seemed serious about Luhan if he was willing to quit the MIB for him, but Luhan had barely become an adult. If Zitao hadn't taken precautions, this could have been Yixing. He wasn't sure if he could splice himself a womb and a baby simply from thinking about it, but Zitao made a good pet owner, wouldn't he make a good father? If he hadn't lost his girlfriend back in China, they could have had kids together.   
  
“Let's get you back to Earth and I can prescribe you drugs,” Yixing finally said pulling Luhan out of the exam room.   
  
Luhan came with him silently before halting suddenly at the wormhole. “Wait, Earth? We're not on Earth?”

 

 


	12. I'm Pro-Dance

**12\. I’m Pro-Dance**

 

    “What's this?” Yixing asked picking up a bag Zitao had thrown at his side. He had been picked up by Zitao only a few hours earlier and walked all the way back to his new boyfriend's apartment so he could get ready for the promised alien ball. He had taken up sitting on Zitao's bed and playing with Candy while Zitao finished some paperwork for the MIB as the ball wasn’t for a few hours still, but time passed by quickly watching Zitao work and playing with a small adorable dog.

 

“It's your outfit. And I bought you some different glasses. I like the wire rimmed ones, but they won't match this,” Zitao said and grabbed another bag moving over to the corner of his room where racks and racks of mostly black clothing were hung. There was also a lot of leopard print and a fluffy pink coat Zitao had whispered dirty things about when he caught Yixing manhandling it.

 

Zitao liked clothing. And he liked expensive clothing that stood out. Yixing didn't mind it. And he didn't think he would care much if Zitao started dressing him. Yixing had only managed to work out formal clothing and a sort of hipster style he thought suited a doctor. However, Yixing didn't understand the correlation between tight leather man jeggings and a ball. He put them on anyways along with a shiny loose gold tank top.

 

“How do I look?” Yixing asked turning around once he was done.

 

Zitao turned from preening his hair, now back to black, in a mirror and looked Yixing up and down. “You look good.”

 

Yixing tilted his head to the side. Zitao looked good, too. He had a similar shiny shirt but it shifted between teals and blacks and jeggings cut in a different pattern that hugged tightly to his bottom. He had a frilly accessory attached to the collar of the tank top and held out a couple long necklaces to lay around Yixing's neck. They matched a little, like a couple's outfit and it made Yixing feel warm inside.

 

“Why do you dye your hair all the time?” Yixing asked.

 

Zitao shrugged and picked up a pair of dark thick rimmed squarish shaped glasses to slide onto Yixing's face. “I'd say it was to make it hard to identify me, but that's just an excuse.” He placed a kiss on Yixing's forehead when the glasses were in place and moved away. He waved at Yixing. “Can you see me?”

 

“I can see you without them,” Yixing said. The subscription was right and he nodded looking at himself in the mirror. “Will Candy be alright?”

 

“She's been fine all week. I keep the television playing a show about baby animals. She seems to like it. Let's go.” Zitao went to grab Candy, wrapping the puppy in a fluffy blanket and moved her to a ruffled basket in the living room where there were already adorable baby animals crawling across floors on the television. Zitao gave the puppy a few pats and kisses and Yixing scratched its ear once before he followed Zitao into his bathroom.

 

“I'm putting the portal in here so she doesn't follow,” Zitao said bringing out a bigger chip than the one Yixing had seen in the supplies that had been provided when he'd entered the MIB. Zitao placed it in the shower and the tiled wall warped, rippling from the distortion. Zitao grabbed Yixing's hand and pulled him through.

 

Yixing had been to one of the many SFPP headquarters scattered round the galaxy and knew of the others, but that one had been on Earth. The one they stepped into was definitely Shade inspired, but there were organic architecture common of XDAs. They were both the two species best known for getting along together and the planet of Xiao Doe was the first to come under the SFPP protection. Yixing hadn't been surprised when Luhan had announced his boyfriend was a Shade.

 

Zitao led them, hands joined tightly, down the hall their invitational wormhole had brought them to. There were others entering from wormholes along the wall as well. Yixing could hear a soft electronic sound getting louder as well as a sweet scent filling his nose.

 

“You might see your friend here with Kai,” Zitao said. “He might have surprised him with the ball.”

 

Yixing nodded. Luhan hadn't seemed very happy to hear Yixing was going to an alien party, but he had been working all that morning even though Yixing told him to take it easy with his condition. Zitao had asked how Luhan was. The thought to tell his boyfriend about his friend's pregnancy had been there, but ultimately Yixing had been acting as a doctor and was sworn to patient confidentiality. At least that was what he had told Zitao, that and that Luhan would be fine.

 

When they got to the ballroom, Yixing finally understood about the clothes. An alien ball actually meant a huge rave. There was a stage with a Dracos DJ working up a sweat in metal armor modified with strobe lights and all sorts of lighting effects going off as he scratched his tunes. There was a stand for singers and instrumental performers that switched off depending what genre the DJ put on. Some of it almost hurt Yixing's ears, but for the most part, it was beautiful and Yixing was use to alien music from the alien friendly clubs he went to with Yifan. There were a couple of Arbokian woman in huge spacey ball gowns as was the norm for their race, but no one seemed put off by their presence. They were princesses most likely put under the SFPP protection as they opposed the use of time travel and the resistance. The Star Brights and Infernosapiens on the dance floor wore just enough clothing not to offend races that were less friendly to nudity as they made their own light shows just with what they were born with. And then there were the XDAs and Shades.

 

“Someone's tail is roaming,” Zitao said pointing off into a corner of the ballroom where Luhan and Jongin could be seen dancing dirty, but it was actually a perfectly respectable XDA move if you didn't count Jongin's long leathery tail tickling the inside of Luhan's exposed thighs with the fuzzy tip.

 

The Shade style of dress was very militaristic. Their partying clothes didn't stray far but contained more leather and more studs. Jongin's true form of soft velvet fur skin was gold with patches of black here and there and he had one triangular ear pierced five times, one for each of his ranks in the SFPP. His sharp little fangs left pin pricks on Luhan's neck as they danced. XDAs normally had no issue with nudity. On their planet, a loose silk like robe was the norm for an adult and short tunics were given to very young children. They liked showing their markings. Luhan had on a crop top, loose and a thin white silk reflecting the strobe lights while also hiding nothing beneath. His pants were tighter than Zitao's jeggings and held together vicariously by silk ribbons with cut outs at his hips and thighs where Jongin's tail was stroking. They seemed in their own world and Yixing didn't want to disturb the beauty of their attraction for each other. Luhan would be mad if Yixing didn't at least say hi at some point that night, though.

 

“There are Layans here,” Zitao said and pointed toward a food table and bar where Yixing finally figured out the origins of the sweet scent. XDA ambrosia flowed from a fountain. The Layans gathered around seemed bored in skin tight gray jumpsuits zipped up past their necks to cover most of their face, or more appropriately, to cover the masks they wore to keep a constant supply of carbon dioxide going through them.

 

“They keep a library open for the Layans,” Zitao said. “It has machines to take in carbon dioxide. If you start feeling like you need it, we can just go walk in there.”

 

“Why aren't any of them dancing?” Yixing asked.

 

“I've never seen a Layan dance other than you. They just don't.”

 

Yixing frowned. “That's not true. They're anti-social, not anti-dance.” His parents had met at a club after all.

 

“Well then, do you want to dance with me?” Zitao asked and grinned.

 

Yixing nodded. “I'm pro-dance.”

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

Yixing felt inadequate as someone with alien genes. He barely knew any steps to the more traditional dances some of the songs required while Zitao, though not as smooth, knew all of them. He had probably been to quite a few of these balls and Yixing couldn't expect that Zitao had spent his life between the Arbokian girl and Yixing alone. He had had lube under his bed and a new box of condoms. Yixing liked dancing, though, and picked up the steps quickly. More than anything, XDA songs were being played, slow and sensual, remixed with a heavy beat. Zitao's hands were all over Yixing, sliding under the loose fabric of his tank top, his groin against Yixing's, and lips at his neck.

 

“You're warm,” Zitao whispered against Yixing's skin.

 

“We're dancing,” Yixing replied.

 

“Am I warm?” Zitao asked. He took one of Yixing's hands and placed it under his own shirt.

 

Zitao was hot. His skin burned Yixing as he tentatively felt his boyfriend's taunt ab muscles. Zitao hummed as Yixing's hands explored encouraging him to move them more. Yixing did want to touch Zitao as much as he wanted Zitao to touch him. He hadn't participated much on their night together. He knew how to give a blow job to the point it was mechanic and he had a rusty experience turning girls on. He always gave in then ran when it came to men and anything past kissing. Yixing moved his hand out of Zitao's shirt and moved it to squeeze his bottom. Zitao chuckled and moved Yixing's other hand to his bottom as well. He wrapped his arms around Yixing's neck and nudged his jaw until Yixing angled his head up. Zitao leaned down and kissed him. Yixing's hands squeezed as they kissed. He let one move back under Zitao's shirt bringing his boyfriend closer to him. Zitao's tongue danced with his and their groins touched. They had bulges, but a lot of people were turned on on the dance floor. The only rule at an alien ball it seemed was you couldn't have your actual privates showing.

 

A whistle pulled them apart.

 

“Never thought I would see the day our Z.T got hot and heavy on a dancefloor,” Sehun said walking over in an unbuttoned shirt and tight pants with his mostly naked partner and lover next to him. “Usually you dance with a few people then leave with one.”

 

Zitao clicked his tongue at the other agent. “You don't know about my sex life, Sehun. Who's patrolling?”

 

“Probably group D or a rookie group,” Sehun said. “Remind me to slip you some info later.

 

“Sehun, don't talk about work. We rarely party,” Chanyeol complained.

 

“We party enough at home,” Sehun said, but took Chanyeol's glowing hand and led the alien farther into the crowd on the dancefloor.

 

“Let's get something to drink,” Zitao said into Yixing's ear, breath against his neck causing Yixing to shiver.

 

Yixing agreed. He could see Luhan and Jongin at the ambrosia fountain flirting.

 

“Hey,” Yixing greeted his roommate.

 

Luhan turned and smiled seeing Yixing then winked at Zitao. “I've been watching you two.”

 

“I didn't think you would have time with Jongin manhandling you so much on the dance floor,” Yixing said and took a drink of the gold liquid when Zitao offered it.

 

“I don't manhandle Lu,” Jongin complained while curling himself around his boyfriend protectively, tail between Luhan's legs and lightly stroking his stomach with the tip. Jongin also had a hand carefully placed around Luhan's waist.

 

Yixing stared there for a moment then caught Luhan's glare and looked away.

 

“We're going to go back dancing,” Luhan said dragging his clingy boyfriend back to the floor.

 

A hand suddenly slipped around Yixing's waist and settled on his stomach. “Is the XDA pregnant?”

 

“What makes you ask that?” Yixing said and sipped his drink. It was ridiculously delicious and made his body heat up. He knew this golden drink was part of why the XDAs were always so horny.

 

“If he is, Kai knows. Or at least he wants it to happen,” Zitao said. “He wouldn't quit the MIB just because he had a boyfriend. But, if he wanted to become a father, that would be another story.”

 

“Would you quit?” Yixing asked before he realized what he was saying.

 

“A few years ago, I thought I couldn't protect anyone. Now, I would try my hardest. But, if I was asked, or if it was the only way, I would,” Zitao said and tightened his hold on Yixing.

 

Yixing leaned back against Zitao. Zitao was mature. He knew the other was younger than him, but he was definitely more mature than Yixing. “How much younger are you than me?”

 

“Less than two years,” Zitao said. “Is it a bother?”

 

Yixing shook his head then turned and kissed Zitao's jawline. “I don't care.”

 

“Hey, do you want to go somewhere alone? They're about to filter oxygen in here because of all the smoke machines.”

 

All the fog and smoke from the special effects weren't really much of a concern. Yixing didn't have a problem with more oxygen either. But, he supposed by the prodding in Zitao's pants, that was just an excuse. He followed Zitao out of the ball room.

 

They ended up in a bathroom. It felt like an insult to call it a bathroom. Yixing had never seen something so pristine. The ceilings were tall and there were lines and lines of sinks. On top of that, each stall was its own little private room with nozzles that sprayed after the occupants left to clean up. Yixing pushed Zitao into one of the stalls and up against the wall kissing him, body flushed against his agent boyfriend.

 

Zitao grabbed Yixing's shoulders and pulled him away. “What are you doing?”

 

“You wanted this, right? I'm down for it,” Yixing said hoping he wasn't wrong.

 

“I...was going to wait until we got home, but...fuck it.” Zitao pulled Yixing to him and kissed him hard.

 

It was exciting. This wasn't some stranger he was still on the fence about who he was making out with to maybe get some feeling from, this was his boyfriend. Yixing felt Zitao slide his hand down Yixing's pants and start stroking him. It was similar to that night at the club. Yixing had thought Zitao was just really good at his job, but maybe he was truly flirting with Yixing that night. Yixing wanted to touch him, too. He slid down Zitao's body and undid his pants pulling him out.

 

“What are you doing?” Zitao asked.

 

“Something I know how to,” Yixing answered and pressed his lips to Zitao's tip.

 

Zitao moaned. “You don't have to...I...fuck.”

 

He was glad he had the choice to opt out, but he had opted in to begin with. Yixing moved his head up and down, tongue sliding, finding the right spots. He wasn't familiar with Zitao. He wanted to be, though. When he elicited moans from Zitao, it excited him and he felt himself twitch. Yixing moved a hand down between his legs and started stroking himself as he blew his boyfriend.

 

“Yixing...Yixing wait...” Zitao pushed Yixing off and led him to the toilet pushing him down onto the toilet seat. “I don't have a condom on me, so sit here.”

 

Condom? Yixing felt embarrassed being reminded of it. Since Yixing had made such a big deal about the condom before, Zitao was probably going to refuse penetrative sex without it. Yixing's mind hadn't made it quite that far, but he did want to feel it again, Zitao moving inside him.

 

Zitao stood with his legs spread and groin in front of Yixing. He held three fingers out towards Yixing's mouth and Yixing curiously leaned in to take them. He watched Zitao's expression, scrunched up as if how turned on he was pained him. It made Yixing's heart beat faster and he pulled away from Zitao's fingers messily. Zitao leaned forward and braced one hand on the wall behind the toilet bringing his groin and hard dick closer to Yixing's mouth. Yixing leaned forward and took his boyfriend back in his mouth. He moved his hands and held tight to Zitao's firm things. His pants were pushed down farther and there was more movements than the shallow thrusts Zitao pushed against Yixing's mouth. It took Yixing a moment to connect the fingers from before to the thrusts. Zitao was preparing himself. There had never been an account of a male Earthling being knocked up from being penetrated by a Layan.

 

Even in the dirtiest of ways, Zitao was very considerate.

 

“Ah, fuck, Yixing...I know why, but...dammit, why are you good at this?”

 

Zitao was leaking hard. Yixing let go of one of Zitao's thighs and moved it to stroke his scrotum. He felt it twitch then his mouth was filled. Yixing swallowed as a reaction then looked up at Zitao. Zitao moved his hand from the wall and wiped Yixing's lips before kissing him chastely.

 

“I'm going to make you cum now. Is that alright?”

 

“You don't,” Yixing started to protest, but he could see the fondness in Zitao's eyes and nodded his head.

 

Zitao sat himself in Yixing's lap. He was a bit heavier than Yixing thought he would be. Yixing felt his dick softening from his nerves, but Zitao grabbed it and stroked it a few times before hovering above it. He lowered himself, getting just the tip of Yixing's hard on in before the whole bathroom shook. Zitao fell forward and pulled off.

 

“Mother fucker!...What the hell was that?” Zitao yelled. He looked around the bathroom as if he was about to kill something.

 

Sirens suddenly started blaring and he looked down at Yixing with wide eyes.

 

A shiver ran through Yixing's body. A shiver that killed any sexual desire he'd had.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

An explosion. They rushed out of the bathroom just as another one sounded. Guests were starting to run down the halls toward where their worm holes had initially brought them, but they weren't there anymore.

 

“Zitao, how are people suppose to leave?” Yixing asked.

 

“You're suppose to stay for the first hour then doormen will come and open wormholes back for you,” Zitao said. “Emergency wormholes are limited.”

 

“Do you know what's going on?”

 

Zitao shook his head and grabbed Yixing's hand. “Let's get back to the ballroom.”

 

The ballroom was in chaos. The music had stopped and Yixing could see SFPP members already in their military outfits directing guests out. Jongin was in a corner with Luhan in his arms arguing with one of the members. Zitao led Yixing in their direction.

 

“What's going on?” Zitao asked.

 

“All guests are being directed to the meeting hall,” the SFPP member said. “There aren't any direct hits, just a stray bomb or two got redirected the wrong way.”

 

Zitao frowned. “I'm MIB. What's really going on?”

 

Jongin held Luhan closer. “They won't tell me and I haven't even officially left the MIB, but we don't know what happened to the princesses.”

 

“The Arbokian princesses? They're peacemakers, this isn't their doing,” Zitao argued.

 

“The princesses have already been escorted just like the rest of the guests,” the SFPP member ensured.

 

“No one saw it though,” Jongin complained.

 

“Where's Sehun and Chanyeol?” Zitao asked.

 

“They already ran off to patrol,” Jongin explained. “They're probably looking for the princesses or any signs of what happened to them.”

 

“They have no right to be snooping around a Shade royal sanctum,” the SFPP member argued.

 

“I'm a Shade royal and a member of the SFPP and I say they can do whatever the fuck they want to,” Jongin growled. “My mate is traumatized because the SFPP didn't have enough security measurements put up when they know full well the resistance is on a rise again with the hybrid rebels’ help. The MIB doesn't work for you guys, they work alongside the SFPP or ahead of them if they have to.”

 

Luhan was silent in Jongin's arms. He had his arms own wrapped around his stomach. Though more alien than Yixing, Luhan hadn't experienced much in the way of galactic life or war. Yixing moved toward Luhan and lightly touched his face. Jongin noticed and let Luhan go, falling into Yixing's arms instead.

 

“Are you alright?” Yixing asked.

 

“I...got scared,” Luhan said. “I forgot we were floating in space on an alien ship. No bombs actually hit, right?”

 

Yixing shook his head. “No, it's just the shocks from them passing through wormholes. You're worried about something else, too, right?”

 

Luhan's arms tightened around his stomach. “I had that thought. Can I go home?”

 

“It'll be a little while, but Jongin will take good care of you. I might have to do some side work, though,” Yixing said.

 

Luhan grabbed Yixing's wrist. “Be careful.”

 

Yixing nodded and turned to Zitao. The agent still looked angry, but he and Jongin were done talking to the SFPP member. Zitao grabbed Yixing's hand and began pulling him away.

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“We can't do much until a wormhole opens so we're going to walk around like Sehun and Chanyeol are doing.”

 

“Why were there Arbokian princesses here?” Yixing asked.

 

“They want peace,” Zitao answered. “Most of the Arbokian royals want peace. They agree that time traveling is too dangerous. They've seen how crazy it has made their society. The SFPP always keep the princesses in their custody. They say it is to preserve the Arbokian gene pool, but it's more leverage over the nation as a whole. From what I've heard, the princesses haven't really minded being in the SFPP's custody. They get to travel and learn. Their romances aren't monitored either. Eventually, they have to marry someone from their own nation.”

 

“A prince?” Yixing asked.

 

“There aren't any princes. There is only a queen and princesses. All men are part of the military, though, more often than not, it is the military heads that cause us problems. That's not to say there aren't princesses who believe the same as some of the military heads. Princesses get assassinated so the military can put their princesses as heir to the throne,” Zitao explained. “That's the goal of the hybrid resistance. They think because they're mixed they're stronger. They want a mixed princess on the throne.”

 

“Could a mixed princess take it?”

 

“Well, their queen is old. The older or younger you are the lower down the line you get. Our princesses were next in line. If the current queen stepped down one of them could take it and any child they had while queen would be heir as soon as they turned twenty. That would be the only way the Arbokian community would accept a hybrid ruler. That or by force.”

 

Yixing frowned. “What are we to do now then?”

 

“If Sehun and Chanyeol come back empty handed and we don't get a report on the whereabouts of the princesses, we'll have to go to the battlefield and see if we can find them there,” Zitao said.

 

“A rescue mission?” Yixing asked.

 

“Maybe. They may also not be there. It could just be a distraction to take them elsewhere,” Zitao said. “Either way, I wish you didn't have to be part of it.”

 

“I'll stay out of the way,” Yixing promised.

 

Zitao just made a very unpleasant face. “That's not the part I'm worried about.”

 

“Aye, Z.T, Lay, guess where we get to go,” a voice called from down the hall.

 

Yixing turned to the voices. Sehun and Chanyeol were walking down the hall. The shorter of the two lovers was grinning ear to ear, eyes trained on Zitao.

 

“Arachia Prime,” Zitao answered miserably.

 

“Arachia Prime,” Sehun assured.

 

Yixing turned back to his boyfriend. Zitao's face seemed paler than Yixing had seen it before.

 

“Fucking great. I hate bugs,” Zitao muttered.


	13. I'll Watch Your Back

**13\. I’ll Watch Your Back**

 

    “Alright, that was the last of them,” Chanyeol said as the last guest exited the ballroom.

 

“Did Jongin take Luhan home?” Yixing asked.

 

“Kai and his mate? Yeah, I saw him go through,” Chanyeol said then turned to his partner. “Ready to get on the job, Sehun?”

 

Sehun was in a corner on a device with a sour face. “I haven't had sex in a week. The first hybrid resistance member I find, I'm punching in the face.” He put his device away and grabbed Chanyeol's hand as another portal opened.

 

“We'll see you guys on the other side,” Chanyeol said waving to Yixing and Zitao who was talking to one of the SFPP guards still about.

 

Yixing waved them off then walked over to Zitao. Zitao ended his conversation with the guard and turned to Yixing. He still seemed upset.

 

“The portal will close soon,” Yixing said.

 

“Alright, let's get to headquarters,” Zitao said. He grabbed Yixing's wrist and led the way through the wormhole that closed after them.

 

Once inside, they were greeted with a few nods as the office workers of the MIB hurried about. There were a few other couplings Yixing had never seen before walking around in their field gear entering and exiting wormhole portals. Yixing had never seen the MIB headquarters busy before. Zitao led them down the winding halls until they came to the locker room. Zitao opened his then opened one right beside his. Yixing recognized a few of the contents inside as things he had used before. He also found a set of black clothing already prepared and began to slip into them.

 

“Here, let me gear you up,” Zitao said coming over to Yixing's locker. He started pulling out straps and halters fastening them to Yixing and telling him what each thing did. Then he pulled out a face mask with little bits of metal here and there. “There's not a lot of oxygen on Arachia Prime nor a lot of carbon dioxide. This is for the oxygen. Take an inhaler for the carbon dioxide.”

 

“If I take the inhaler, I'll feel ill,” Yixing pointed out.

 

“I know,” Zitao said then reached out and grabbed Yixing bringing him in for a rough kiss.

 

Yixing was surprised by it at first, but moved into the rhythm. Zitao was blowing his breaths at Yixing as they kissed. It was only a little, but the thought made Yixing feel better. “I shouldn't need it,” Yixing assured.

 

Zitao placed his forehead against Yixing's. “Just stay close to me as much as you can. And when we have to split, make sure you can still see me at all times.”

 

Yixing nodded. “I'll watch your back.”

 

“I know you will, but watch yours, too. And, don't be surprised by what I do, please,” Zitao said.

 

“I won't be.”

 

Zitao just made an unpleasant face. “There's a part of me I wish you didn't have to see, but you will.”

 

If it worried Zitao so much, Yixing wanted to see it.

 

“Let's get the run down,” Zitao said and escorted them out of the locker room and back into the main lobby where an older Earthling was standing with a file. He walked into a room and Zitao followed.

 

“Agent Z.T and Medic Lay,” the man greeted. “I apologize for putting a temporary agent on this case, but the documents on our replacement haven't quite gone through all the way and sending Z.T to Arachia Prime previously led to your predicament, Medic Lay. Agent Z.T isn't as good being a lone wolf as he likes to think.”

 

Yixing turned to Zitao to see him rubbing at his chest, the place the alien harpoon had pierced him. He had been on Arachia Prime, the place they were going now. The true seriousness of their situation hit Yixing then.

 

“We have not been able to find a trace of the princesses, either way, we need to know where the re routing was conducted. Arachia Prime is still very much a war zone. They aren’t hostile, but their intelligence is still feral level. The Arbokian resistance has been manipulating all species in this area for years and the SFPP has been fighting to get protective control of it.”

 

“Where is Arachia Prime?” Yixing asked.

 

The elder man tapped on a device and a map popped up. There was a dot for Earth then a dot where they headquarters were just outside of the Shade’s home planet. The map got smaller and smaller and zoomed in closer to the center of the Milky Way. “The planet we are looking at is in the zone of our own galaxy that is the most unstable do to its closeness to our central black hole. There is rarely life bigger than microscopic proportions there. Arachia Prime itself is a moon circling a small gas planet. It is the only hospitable moon in its solar system around a red giant dubbed Arachia Sol. We have dispatched team B's Sehun and Chanyeol to search for the princesses. You two will be finding information on the redirection of bombs. This is the second time they have redirected to safe zones. This is stealth. We already have someone in the SFPP base, you two will be going to the enemy base. There are three. Return as soon as you feel it is too dangerous or as soon as you find anything substantial. We can't have what happened last time happening again, Agent Z.T.”

 

Zitao nodded. “Yes sir. I won't allow Medic Lay's help to be for nothing.”

 

The man nodded and handed them each a small box. “You will be dealing with not only the natives, but Arbokians. In case of an emergency, use this, but use it together.”

 

“Understood, sir,” Zitao said.

 

The man bowed to them then left.

 

Yixing turned to Zitao. “Who was that?”

 

“I don't know. Someone important. They don't give you information about the guys that call the shots in the MIB. Unlike Jongin and I, those guys can't quit,” Zitao said and opened his box pulling out a small crystal. He dropped it into one of his pockets.

 

Yixing pulled out his own, but it was connected to a string. Zitao took it from him and wrapped it around his neck. “Don't lose this.”

 

“What is it?” Yixing asked.

 

“You don't want to find out,” Zitao responded then turned his attention to an empty wall in the room they had entered. “Fifteen seconds and a portal will open here. Yixing, are you ready to step into your first alien war zone?”

 

“No,” Yixing said.

 

“Good, don't ever be ready, just be prepared,” Zitao said and a portal appeared on the empty wall. Zitao grabbed Yixing's hand and pulled him through.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

The planet Yixing found himself walking out on was dusty and barren as far as he could see. The sky above them was a strange red with a large looming disk of a sun to one side and a huge greenish colored disk on the other. Yixing wouldn’t call the fluffy fields that floated in the atmosphere clouds as they were red, too, and carried an ominous mist just below them.

 

“We don't want to be stuck in a storm,” Zitao said. “We need to hurry to the underground. The above crust is very thin. Most things live in burrows.”

 

Yixing nodded and followed Zitao across the dusty surface of the planet. He could see many holes in the ground of the planet and only a few bits of plant life cracking through. There was a sprout taller than others as they passed that bloomed into the most blue of flowers Yixing had ever seen. He stopped momentarily caught off guard by the plant. It reminded him of an orchid, but the stamen was sharp like needles. One of those needles shot at Yixing and Zitao pulled him away.

 

“That's an Arbokian flower worm. The needles will paralyze you, that's how the Arbokian force is getting their meals on this planet,” Zitao said. “If you see one, keep walking. It doesn't like being stared at.”

 

Yixing nodded and followed Zitao across the land. This was suppose to be a war zone, but Yixing didn't see much in the way of fighting. “Where is everyone?”

 

“Since it is going to rain, they're probably underground. The actual fighting happens in space. They only do foot fighting on the land.” Zitao pointed into the sky as shining lights streaked across it. “See there, those are the bombs. It leaves less debris if you use wormholes and they’re harder to track, but you also can't use homing missile types.”

 

Yixing nodded. He could hear the faint whistling of the weapons outside the atmosphere of the planet.

 

“Let's hurry, it's an acidic rain. Too long in it and you'll melt,” Zitao said.

 

Gene splicing a whole new layer of epidermis didn't sound fun. Yixing picked up his pace following Zitao only to hear a rumbling behind them.

 

“Yixing, run faster,” Zitao said, his voice wavering.

 

“Run?” he turned his head to see the ground behind them cracking and then a claw.

 

Zitao pulled Yixing to him then pushed him behind him as he turned to face the claw pulling out a gun and aiming. He missed.

 

The claw was followed by another. Not a claw, but a spiny leg. Six spiny legs appeared and a disk like body that's head was mostly beak and sharp horn like fangs on the sides. It had more eyes than Yixing could count, a bright green with a black dot that moved a million different ways. It shook the dust from its dark colored body then reached one of its spiny legs out towards them. Zitao shot again. And missed again.

 

The insect like alien opened its jaws. Yixing had never heard a bug make a sound before. It was like a rattle, but the deepest rattle Yixing had ever heard. It traveled for miles and suddenly the ground shook more and three more of these creatures appeared shaking themselves free of the ground. Yixing noticed Zitao fiddling with his gun.. He was shaking.

 

“Zitao,” Yixing said softly.

 

“I...I got this,” Zitao said. “Just give me a moment.”

 

The new creatures let out a rattle of their own and started skittering towards them on their six legs. The one before them seemed to regain itself and reached out to them again.

 

“We don't have time,” Yixing said as the creature's large leg cast a shadow over them. He pulled out one of the guns he had strapped to his own body and shot. He didn't miss. The bullet ripped through the bug's leg and it rattled more. “Let's run.”

 

Zitao looked between Yixing and the creatures before putting his own gun away and grabbing Yixing's hand running. They didn't get far before there was more shaking in the ground and three more of the bugs popped up meters in front of them. They were surrounded.

 

“Shit, these things love hunting before a rain. Why did they have to send us during lunch time?” Zitao muttered to himself.

 

“Which gun am I going to need to use?” Yixing asked.

 

“You're not. These guys are fine with the acid rain. You have to poison them from the inside.”

 

“So, like cockroaches?” Yixing asked.

 

Zitao shivered. “Yeah.”

 

Yixing frowned. How were they going to get away. He couldn’t just swat them dead, these creatures were the size of a small bus. Maybe an explosion would work against them, but that could also crumble the thin surface.

 

“Where's a native when you need one,” Zitao muttered and reached into his pocket pulling out the small crystal they had each been given.

 

“Zitao, do we really...”

 

Suddenly, there was a rattling again from the creatures. This time it was more high pitched. The ones in front of them ran faster towards Yixing and Zitao while the ones behind them fled. Yixing grabbed onto Zitao and pushed him down as one of the bugs walked right over them. He could feel the agent shaking in his arms. When the shadow of the creature had finally gone, Yixing looked up. In the distance there was a ball of white fluff. Yixing stood and helped Zitao to his feet. Zitao looked around then seemed to spot the fluff as well and took shaky but purposeful steps over to it. When he got close enough, the fluff turned and stood. The creature's torso was very thin and its legs a more humanized version of a grasshopper's. Its arms looked to have sleeves like a praying mantis might. It only had two of each. Not an insect but something close. It was female or so Yixing assumed. For something so skeletal it had breasts. If Yixing was to tap them, he supposed they would make a hard sound, not give beneath his finger like flesh would, yet it still contained nipples. Its face was as beautiful as a bug's face could be containing large dark red eyes like garnets and its mouth resembled a butterfly's, covered in a sticky grossness Yixing could only identify as the liquid substances of the large insects that had been hunting Zitao and Yixing previously. The fluff Yixing had noticed first seemed to be the creature's mane running from the top of its head down to almost its feet. It bowed noticing them noticing it.

 

“What is it?” Yixing asked.

 

“Our savior. A native. Those bugs are like their cattle,” Zitao said quietly. He was still shaking.

 

“I thought he said they were hostile.”

 

“They are,” Zitao said and bowed back. Yixing copied.

 

The alien made twittering noises then held up a three fingered clawed hand motioning for them to follow.

 

“They're hostile, but they are also the most intelligent creature native to this planet. And they're growing. I'm sure this one knows what we're after.” Zitao followed the creature and Yixing followed him. Eventually the creature stopped and pointed at a hole in the ground then made another gesture. Blue flowers bloomed from the crust and shot needles towards the fluffy maned alien. It easily dodged.

 

“We have fifteen seconds to get into that hole before the flower resets,” Zitao said and ran.

 

Yixing sighed then ran with him.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

“So, bugs.”

 

“Yeah, bugs, what about them?” Zitao asked.

 

They had been walking beneath the surface of the planet's top most layer of crust for at least fifteen minutes and Yixing still felt like they were in a cave. He had seen a few creatures crawling in the shadows of the hard rock and dirt structures, but nothing bigger than a small dog. Zitao jumped every time Yixing pointed one out. The fall into the underground system hadn't been bad, but Yixing did feel dusty and there was barely any light down here. He didn't understand how the Arbokians had built systems down here in order to try and conquer the natives of Arachia Prime. They were beautiful odd creatures. He was still confused how the savior had known where Zitao and Yixing needed to go. Perhaps with the interruption the Arbokians had caused, their intelligence was growing at a faster rate. It had started raining, though, Yixing could hear the thumps when Zitao fell very silent studying a small device he kept out in front of him.

 

“You're afraid of them,” Yixing said. “Is that what you didn't want me to see?”

 

Zitao paused in his walking. “What if it was?”

 

“I own a fly swatter,” Yixing answered.

 

Zitao laughed. “I don't think you can kill these ones with a fly swatter.”

 

“No, I suppose not.” Yixing walked faster to keep up with with Zitao. “Where are we headed?”

 

“That Arachian sent us the back way to the nearest Arbokian control center. We should be coming across some grates soon. We'll take those through then I should be able to locate the command board for the missiles and bombs and pull files from what I remember before. It's good the files are coming from the same place as last time,” Zitao explained.

 

“You mean when you got shot out of the sky?” Yixing asked.

 

Zitao frowned. “Yeah. We should be quiet now. Stay in the vent when I jump down. It'll be a good place to snipe from.”

 

Only a few meters more and they had found the grates Zitao mentioned. They were placed crookedly into the stone of the underground passageway. Zitao got rust on his glove pulling one loose then stuck the tip of a gun inside swishing it around.

 

“Alright, this one is dry. Some vents are for the rain so stay behind me,” Zitao instructed.

 

Yixing followed Zitao, on his hands and knees, through the darkness of the grate. It wasn't metal, but a hard cold rock that dusted Yixing's black clothes more and more. Yixing had expected an exoplanetary base to be made out of exoplanetary metals like the floating headquarters of the MIB or the ballroom in one of the SFPP ships.

 

“Alright, stay quiet, very quiet,” Zitao said as they came to a split in the vent. Zitao turned right and the vent got larger. Zitao kept to one side and Yixing copied him until a light brightened up the rocky tunnel from another grate, this one a glassy translucent rock with metal securing it to the natural rock of the underground system.

 

Zitao pulled out a tool gun and popped of the securities carefully lifting the rock glass away and poked his head down. “This is it. No one is inside. I'm not going to have long. Either they know we're here and this is a trap or they will know we're here. I pulled a similar thing last time.”

 

“You didn't have a partner last time,” Yixing explained.

 

Zitao smiled and reached a hand to the back of Yixing's head, rubbing it. “That's true. Now just poke the head of your sniper out of the glass. It has a silencer on it, but you have to make sure you hit every target that walks into the door. It's a tranquilizer. If you run out, switch and don't be afraid to shoot. If you don't feel up to head shots, just aim for their legs.”

 

Yixing nodded. They didn't have to kill, Yixing was glad for that. Zitao rubbed Yixing's head again then grabbed his oxygen mask and put it over his face before jumping down in a flurry of black cloth. He landed with a muted thump on the floor and moved out of Yixing's field of vision. Yixing poked his head out to decide the angle he would need the gun at. The room was dusty, but it had glass protecting certain sections where computer equipment was set up and large monitors with maps and calculations displaying covered one wall. Zitao had gone to one of the computers and was typing away. Yixing set his sniper up pointed at the door closest to Yixing and waited. Simulations played in Yixing's head as he sat there watching. He remembered doing the same back when he was first allowed to perform surgeries. He would always go through the whole surgery first in his head then again making each scenario worse and worse until it got to the point where his Layan abilities would be the only option left. This was different, though, there were so many options before it came to saving someone.

 

On the far side of the control room, a door slid open. Yixing turned his attention to it. He heard Zitao stop typing and noticed his dark figure hunching down by the glass and equipment he had been working with. Yixing kept himself still as his eyes followed the Arbokian who had entered. He couldn't tell if they were hybrid or not, but they wore a jumpsuit cut from an Arbokian design with a patch that dictated the Arbokian military, but it was a bit different. The alien walked about the room as if he knew something was off, a small gun in one hand and ridges on his head pulling together in frustration. He approached Zitao and Yixing cocked his gun. A little closer and he would have to shoot.

 

“Ah, I knew there was someone in here,” the Arbokian said, but instead of looking in Zitao's direction, he was looking at Yixing through the glass.

 

Yixing fired. The dart barely met the alien as he tried to dodge, landing on his lower arm. Zitao moved out of his spot and clocked the Arbokian over the head with the hilt of his gun and they crumpled to the floor. Zitao looked up at Yixing and made a motion with his hand. Yixing understood and rearranged himself. He was angled too much towards the light. Before he had settled back in, though, there were more Arbokian soldiers filtering into the room. The first one must have sent off a warning as soon as he saw Yixing. Zitao brought out his gun and started shooting hiding behind the equipment. The Arbokians held themselves up on the other side of the room and shot back. Their bullets zoomed with a different speed and they didn't seem to be aiming. Zitao was dodging, though. Yixing started shooting back. When his tranquilizers were out, he switched to bullets. It wasn't easy to aim at legs when all he could see were heads, but he aimed off as more of a scare tactic than anything else, something to give Zitao a chance to escape. They were starting to shoot at Yixing now, too. The change in attention gave Zitao enough time to come out of his hiding spot and he brought out a short metal pole that turned into a long one with a touch of a button coursing with electricity. He twirled it around, the movements creating a barrier from flying bullets then he charged at the group of Arbokians. In a close quarters fight, it was harder to shoot a gun, but also deadlier. Yixing couldn't understand what Zitao was doing, but he watched. It was impressive. Zitao surrounded by the five remaining conscious guards now seemingly out of bullets twirled the charged stick around creating a force field around himself that wasn't easy to approach without the right timing. Zitao knocked two of the guys out just from getting shocked by the barrier. The others, Zitao smacked in the face and the chest with the sparking ends of the stick and Yixing took out the last one.

 

“Help me up,” Zitao said standing below the vent.

 

Yixing found a bit of leather rope and lowered it and Zitao quickly hurried up.

 

“I got as much as I could. We need to run as far as we can and then get back to the surface. This is the dangerous part. If someone starts shooting at you, just shoot back. I'll keep the shield up. Don't look where you're shooting, just shoot.”

 

Yixing nodded and followed Zitao back through the vent. They ended up at a different exit and Yixing could hear an alarm blaring. Zitao took his hand and started to run. At first, there wasn't any resistance. They had gotten pretty far before Yixing felt the distant gun shots coming at them.

 

“Hold on, we're going to go a bit faster,” Zitao said. He pulled out a sort of disk from beneath his poncho and threw it at the ground in front of them. “Jump.”

 

Yixing jumped and found himself on a large floating disk. Zitao was leaning down on it touching flat buttons and they were suddenly surrounded by a barrier.

 

“You shoot, I'll steer. It's only going to last a few minutes. There isn't enough metal on this planet to keep it up.”

 

Yixing nodded. He kept his balance as best he could and shot toward the pursuing aliens. He didn't aim for any of them, but the flurry of bullets was enough to keep them cautious of their pursuit.

 

Then, there was the harpoon.

 

“I guess we got the right information if they're throwing those now,” Zitao said. “Shit, cliff.”

 

“Cliff?” Yixing turned his attention in front of them. Indeed, there was a cliff in the underground system. Would they be able to fly over it on the disk?

 

The disk gave out just before they reached it. Zitao kicked it over the edge in frustration. “We're going to have to use grappling hooks, but it might hurt.”

 

“I'll be fine,” Yixing said. He wasn't sure he would, but he could heal them later.

 

“Alright, give me your hand,” Zitao said holding his out.

 

Yixing reached out, but Zitao pulled his arm back and hissed in pain. “What?”

 

“Bullet...it went straight in,” Zitao croaked.

 

Yixing grabbed Zitao's arm. With all the black material, it was hard to see, but Yixing did notice the bullet that had melted into Zitao's skin as well as a few tears from other bullets that had grazed him. Bullets poisonous to Earthlings.

 

“We need to get you an antidote,” Yixing said. “I'll do the hook and you hold onto me.”

 

Zitao nodded weakly and grabbed onto Yixing just as another harpoon came at them. Zitao stared at it before grabbing onto Yixing.

 

“It has a bomb on it,” Zitao said. “They're going to take down the whole cavern, they don't give a shit. Jump.”

 

“Jump?”

 

Zitao reached into one of his pocket and pulled out the little crystal they had been given sticking it into a small gun then grabbed Yixing's hand. “Jump,” he repeated and tugged Yixing against him then pulled them both off the cliff.

 

Yixing had heard of the term falling in love. Was it as exhilarating as falling down an alien cavern with bombs and gunshots going off after you? Yixing had always thought love to be a lot softer.

 

Zitao pointed the gun at the air below them and suddenly there was a rip in space.


	14. I Was Born There

**14\. I Was Born There**

 

    Yixing knew what rejection felt like. It felt like falling over a cliff and the proceeding harsh connection of your body against the earth below. Or maybe it felt more like drowning, still alive not knowing how to escape. But, Yixing had nothing to compare the feeling of falling through the portal Zitao had made. It was both a sudden forced rush like on a roller coaster, but also a slow descent. It felt as if Yixing was two entities at once experiencing very different things. When the portal popped them back into reality, Yixing could only place where they landed by a familiar smell from his childhood.

 

“China?” Yixing said wistfully. He looked around, his sight shaky from the force of being pulled somewhere else in the universe. The walls were white and tall with large windows. Maybe a church, but more likely, just a ballroom in some large building.

 

“Yes, we're in China,” Zitao said. He was standing in front of railings looking down. He was standing, but it almost looked like he was floating. Yixing could see through him, through his clothes and through his skin and through his organs.

 

“Zitao?” Yixing's voice was unsteady.

 

Zitao turned to him and grinned. “Look at yourself, Yixing.”

 

Yixing did. He raised his hands in front of his face. He could see through them. “What is this?”

 

“It's a type of time travel we call a time warp. It was the very last experiment by the Arbokian people before they were overthrown by the SFPP. Unlike time travel, it won't send you just anywhere, but it will send you back in time. It's like a boomerang, but it's starting point is not its ending and it relies on memories,” Zitao explained. “Our bodies are traveling through it in bits. One part must always stay in your original time. Usually, it just a hair. It anchors you so you can go back, however, you can only witness with this kind of time travel. You can’t change anything. That’s why you can go back. It’s already been predetermined you will. They use it mostly now to evaluate things like homicides if they’re on a grand scale.”

 

“How do we get back?” Yixing asked.

 

“It'll take about five minutes for most of our body to catch up and then you'll use your crystal to throw us back before the last bits of us are sent through. The system relies on partners. Mine brought us here and yours will send us back.”

 

“Send us back where?”

 

Zitao sighed and leaned over the balcony more. “That's up to you, but it'll be in our original time period. I brought us to the past.The fragments of our bodies are just anchors, not a destination. Eventually, they will go through the time warp and meet us back wherever we land”

 

Yixing furrowed his brows. Zitao had said you couldn't return to your original time through time travel, you were stuck, but with a time warp, there seemed to be a way. “I don't understand.”

 

“Perhaps you will,” Zitao said. He was still staring over the balcony.

 

Yixing moved to join Zitao. He frowned seeing two rows of guards, a few of the unmasked ones obviously Arbokian. They stood facing a door in a long marble hallway. At the end was a stage with a chair and a woman, beautiful, but she made Yixing wary. At her sides were two Shades, their tails bobbed and arms shackled behind their backs with masks covering their mouths like muzzles. They were naked as day and shivering as if mad. Yixing had read of the prisoners the Arbokians took when they first fought against the SFPP back when most of them where Shades.

 

Suddenly, the door the guards were facing was thrown open. Yixing's eyes widened seeing the man who rushed in. He was tall and tan, hair bleached and cut to show off his many piercings. His black suit was thrown on without much thought and he had a robotic determination in his eyes that Yixing had only seen the ghost of.

 

Zitao. He had said this was his memory.

 

The guards rushed at Past Zitao after a moment's hesitation. Perhaps it wasn't he they were waiting for. Past Zitao blew through them not receiving one blow, but the farther down the hall the got, the more times he slipped up until finally he was at the foot of the stage that led to the beautiful woman and her slave pets. He was covered in blood and fatigued, but he stood as he faced her.

 

“Jessica.”

 

“Tao.”

 

Yixing could hear their words, Past Zitao's and the woman's, but they were coming from beside him. Zitao was mouthing the conversation, voicing over softly for Yixing to hear from their spot on the balcony above.

 

“Come back with me. They're coming for you. Come with me and we'll be free from all this. We'll run.”

 

“Earthlings, all they do is run. If you want to face me, meet me on the battlefield.”

 

“She cues the cats,” Zitao said and suddenly the Shades pounced on Past Zitao, arms ripping free of their restraints and scratching at Past Zitao. “Now more guards.”

 

Three guards rushed in. The woman made a command and the Shades were pulled off Past Zitao while he was dragged out of the hall by two of them the other going to check on the woman. Past Zitao screamed for her to go with him, screamed and fought against the hold.

 

“That's all for this memory. We should leave before it ends,” Zitao said coming over to Yixing.

 

Yixing didn't notice he'd been gripping so hard his knuckles were white until Zitao placed his hand over one of his and took it. He moved his other hand to Yixing's neck and pulled off the necklace handing it to Yixing as well as a small gun.

 

“Ignore the screaming. Load the crystal like a bullet and shoot. Think of the place in our time you would like to go,” Zitao instructed.

 

It was hard to ignore the pathetic pleads of Yixing's lover's past self, but he loaded the crystal and felt Zitao wrap his arms around Yixing, face buried in Yixing's neck.

 

“Choose your place and shoot,” Zitao murmured into Yixing's neck.

 

Past Zitao's screams made Yixing yearn for home.

 

He shot.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

Again, the sense of falling and being pulled washed over Yixing and he was drowning in the sensation of being torn to bits but not dying. Landing back in the reality of their time was like waking from a jolting nightmare. There was warmth rising with the sun to their east and a familiar smell of homeliness. Yixing's chest tightened as he looked around where the portal had landed them.

 

“Yixing, where are we?” Zitao asked. He was moving his head from side to side squinting as signs.

 

It was jarring to Yixing as well to be able to read the signs, but not registering what language they were actually in. Zitao must have expected them to be in South Korea or on a floating headquarters owned by the MIB or the SFPP. But, no, Yixing had wanted to go home. Unconsciously, that had been the home he barely knew.

 

“China. Changsa, China,” Yixing answered.

 

Zitao turned to Yixing with wide eyes. “Changsa? Why Changsa? I get China because my memory was in China, but why here?”

 

Yixing looked around. There were lines of tall apartment buildings up and down the street with rusted metal and chipping paint. A few doors down was a woman selling snacks and off brand toys and a chicken restaurant a few doors from there and across the street. There was little traffic, but cars did drive by them at a regular pace, honking, but usually it was a bicycle. Yixing took in a deep breath then stared up at the apartment they had landed in front of. Slowly, he lifted a hand and pointed to a window on the eighth floor where flowered curtains were pulled closed.

 

“I was born there,” Yixing said.

 

“There?” Zitao asked. “You were born in the apartment?”

 

Yixing nodded and lowered his hand. “I was born and raised there for six years.”

 

“So, this is your hometown?”

 

“Yes,” Yixing said. The flower curtains were suddenly pulled apart and a young woman looked down at them. Yixing turned his head away. “I haven't been here since I left.”

 

Zitao was staring at Yixing, he could feel the gaze and wasn't sure what to make of it. Perhaps coming here would cause trouble. Yixing didn't travel until he met Zitao. They definitely needed to get back to South Korea or just the MIB headquarters in general. Or, was Zitao feeling sympathy? Yixing had felt suddenly homesick, but this wasn't where he'd grown up. The urge to see it had just come upon him when he'd shot.

 

“I was born in Qingdao,” Zitao said. “I go there often, I'll take you next time.”

 

Yixing looked up to see Zitao smiling at him. Yixing smiled back. “I've never been.”

 

Zitao's smile broke with a sigh. “I do wish you had at least picked somewhere in South Korea, though. We don't have wormhole teleporters on us. And China really likes to block signals.”

 

“It just popped into my head,” Yixing said.

 

“It's fine. Better than splatting over an alien cliff,” Zitao said. “We should get changed, though. We look suspicious all geared up.”

 

Zitao pulled them into an alley and started helping Yixing out of the straps and harnesses he wore before working off his own. They stashed them as well as the weapons in a random trash can down the alley.

 

“We'll have to take a plane. Do you know how to get to an airport?” Zitao asked as they appeared back on the street.

 

Yixing shook his head. “I know where there is one, but not how to get to it.”

 

Zitao pressed his lips and started looking around again. Yixing did the same only to stop as a police officer walked down the street with a notepad in hand inspecting the cars parked along the sidewalk.

 

He was a bit older then Yixing imagined him to be.

 

“I'm...going to ask that officer for directions,” Yixing said and approached the man slowly.

 

The policeman looked up as Yixing approached and smiled. His face was long, but rugged and dimples appeared when he smiled. “Can I help you?”

 

“Uh, yes,” Yixing said, his eyes moving to the the hands the man held his notebook in, one holding a pen to the lined paper. They looked used and callous as if traffic violations weren't his usual job. He shifted when it took Yixing too long to continue and Yixing noticed the bit of pain that went through the officer. “Do you know how to get to an airport from here? My friend and I have been overseas for over a decade.”

 

“A decade? You must have gone for schooling,” the police officer said and started writing on his notepad. “Do you know how to read mandarin?”

 

“Yes sir, and yes. I became a doctor,” Yixing said.

 

“A doctor?” the man whistled. “I always thought it would be good if my kid became a doctor.”

 

Something sweet burst in Yixing's chest. “Do you have children?”

 

The policeman's face tightened. “Maybe. I haven't met any if I do, not that I was crazy when I was young.” He handed a slip of paper to Yixing. “Take a taxi. You can get one a couple blocks from here. Next time, prepare better for trips to places you haven't been in a while.”

 

Yixing bowed as he took the paper. “Yes, thank you Mr....um...”

 

“Officer Zhang Ying,” the man said.

 

“Ah, I'm Zhang Yixing.” Yixing smiled.

 

The man chuckled. “Small world. I always liked the name Yixing.”

 

Yixing bowed again. “Thank you Officer Zhang.”

 

The officer waved Yixing off as he turned to catch up with Zitao who was talking with the lady selling goods down the street.

 

“Did he give you directions?” Zitao asked.

 

“Y-yes,” Yixing said. His voice cracked and he turned away from Zitao, but still, he could feel his boyfriend studying him.

 

“Yixing, your eyes are red. What's wrong?” Zitao asked.

 

“Oh, are you two Korean?” the woman asked.

 

Yixing hadn't noticed they were switching between languages. He hadn't been speaking Chinese to the officer. He turned his head. The policeman was still ticketing cars, but he kept glancing back at Yixing.

 

“We'll take one of these, excuse us,” Zitao said taking a small packet of napkins from a basket and leaving a few bills down in their place before grabbing Yixing's wrist and pulling him in the alley between two buildings where they had left their equipment.

 

Yixing let himself be pulled along.

 

He wouldn't cry. There wasn't a reason to cry. He couldn't know for sure, but he did know.

 

“Yixing,” Zitao said and handed him the tissue packet already opened. When Yixing took it, he pulled Yixing into his arms. “Are you homesick this much?”

 

It wasn't the apartment, Yixing never liked that apartment. And it wasn't the memories of playing with other children or walking up and down the street lost in his own thoughts. Yixing was rarely allowed outside, but he remembered that window on the eighth floor the most because that was their room, his Layan parent's and his. They would both stare down and every time a police officer walked by his mother would stiffen, but only when it was a particular police officer would Yixing get pushed away from the window and out of sight.

 

Those were the only times Yixing had ever seen his father's face, but he hadn't been able to piece that together until he was a middle schooler in South Korea.

 

Yixing buried himself against Zitao and held the sheet of ticketing paper close to his chest. It was precious. After more than twenty years, Yixing had finally spoken to him, his father.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

It had been a few years since Yixing had taken a plane. Luhan always had a fit when Yixing went to Jeju island for conferences since he was never good with them and eventually Yixing decided to let Junmyeon do the conferences and he would take over the other doctor's shifts. After all, you were allowed to bring a guest to the hotel sometimes and Junmyeon had Kyungsoo. He settled into his aisle seat feeling uneasy as Zitao took up sighing and leaned against the window of the plane. He looked tired. They both looked tired even after abandoning their gear and washing up, changing into clothes that weren't covered in alien dust.

 

“Are you sure it was alright to use that black card?” Yixing asked buckling himself in. They had boarded the quickest flight when they got to the airport and had almost missed it.

 

“This is a work expenditure. That card is for work.”

 

“What about our stuff?”

 

“I already sent a message. MIB of China will come grab it if they haven't already. Or an SFPP member,” Zitao said.

 

Yixing nodded his head then looked over Zitao again. “How are your wounds?”

 

“The poison wasn't bothering me much, but I'm fine now. The marks just sting,” Zitao said and slipped his seat belt on.

 

When they had gone to get a change of clothes, Yixing had noticed Zitao wavering and remembered the poison from the Arbokian bullets. Revisiting their hidden gear, Yixing managed to patch Zitao up, but he was still uncomfortable not being able to fully monitor how everything was healing. Zitao had been adamant that Yixing didn't use his powers.

 

“Don't fall asleep,” Yixing said.

 

Zitao chuckled and closed his eyes. “You're cruel. Let me rest at least.”

 

Yixing stayed silent as the plane started its ascent into the sky. There was a bit of jerking and Zitao opened his eyes glaring straight ahead until they smoothed out once they were on their path back to South Korea.

 

“I'm awake now,” Zitao grumbled. He stared outside at the blue sky and white puffy clouds.

 

Yixing wanted something to preoccupy himself with for the next three hours, but he also wanted to keep Zitao out of other's' sight as best he could with all the little bandages decorating his boyfriend's face and arms.

 

“Are you feeling less homesick?” Zitao asked.

 

“We're headed home right now,” Yixing said.

 

Zitao hummed. “I suppose in a sense we are. I do miss Kandy.”

 

“Do you miss China?” Yixing asked. Yixing had only lived in his home country for a very small portion of his life, but Zitao had been here until he was twenty.

 

“Yes,” Zitao said. “But I'm use to traveling other places. I wanted to live in California, but that was my dream with her.”

 

Her. The beautiful woman Yixing had witnessed in the time warp.

 

“I guess that's why we ended up there,” Zitao said. “I was homesick, too.”

 

Yixing frowned. “That seems like an unpleasant memory for homesickness.”

 

“It's a reminder of why I don't go back. I see my family, but I never go back to that apartment on the beach,” Zitao said. “Whenever I fight Arbokians I'm reminded and I feel homesick or maybe lovelorn.”

 

“Did she not love you back?” Yixing asked.

 

Zitao shifted in his seat. “I don't know. The reason we were on the balcony was because I've been there before. One time when I traveled back, I sneaked in and waited to see what would happen if I didn't go after her. She wasn't waiting for me. An Arbokian man came in carrying goods and offered them to her then the SFPP rained down on them. The note was from the SFPP. They were tracking me. What you saw was my last attempt to save her. I told her I worked for the government military, but never the SFPP, but she knew I did. Had I never gone after her, she would have just disappeared from my life. I'm not sure which would have been a better break up, but I would have wasted a lot less time.”

 

“What if she did love you and that's why she never brought up that she knew or brought up what she was. She didn't want you to hate her,” Yixing said. He stared down at his lap. Zitao had gotten angry when he had found out Yixing was a hybrid and angry when he had witnessed Yixing doing what he could to save himself. But, he had been sweet to Yixing when he found out he was a virgin and afraid.

 

“Yixing,” Zitao said. He moved a hand to Yixing's thigh and squeezed. “What's wrong, Yixing? Why did you seem so upset when talking with the police officer? Did you know him?”

 

Yixing shook his head. “I've never met him.”

 

“Oh, were you just surprised he spoke ...he wasn't speaking Korean, I couldn't understand him except with he popped in with Chinese.”

 

“It was broken Layan,” Yixing said. “I recognized him, but I have never met him before in person.”

 

“Was he someone important?” Zitao asked.

 

“I suppose.” Yixing stared at Zitao's hand on his thigh. He wanted to take it in his own hand but he didn't. “Layans are not always level headed. They can be passionate and they can be stupid. They can like to dance and they can like to make love as much as they like to study.”

 

“You dance well and...I have no complaints about you as a lover,” Zitao said.

 

Yixing's lips quirked and he lightly placed his hand on top of Zitao's. “I'm a lot like my Layan parent then, but I definitely got most of my looks from him.”

 

“Him?” Zitao urged.

 

“My father, the police officer.” Yixing squeezed Zitao's hand. “I told you mistakes happen.”

 

“Oh.” Zitao's one syllable response weighed heavy between them.

 

Yixing wanted to glance at Zitao, but he was afraid of the turmoil he might find there. Zitao couldn't have expected the drunken doctor he had collided with late one night would have all this on his shoulders. What else did Yixing have to dump on Zitao, honestly Yixing didn't know. There was always the embarrassing stories of Yixing's college girlfriend.

 

Zitao shifted his hand below Yixing’s flipping it over. He laced their fingers together then brought Yixing's hand up to his lips kissing the back of it. “Everyone makes mistakes, Yixing.”

 

Yixing looked at Zitao curiously. That wasn't the response he anticipated.

 

“I know about mistakes. They affect other people. It is a given other people will become part of your mistakes. I just hope...you shouldn't run from them, you should learn from them. Running just hurts more,” Zitao said. He brought their clasped hands into his lap and went back to looking out the window, face set in a stern look.

 

Yixing studied Zitao for a moment longer before shifting closer and laid his head on Zitao's shoulder resting. He was a mistake. His parents had run from him. It hurt.

 

It hurt so bad.


	15. I Refuse

**15\. I Refuse**

 

    “Sorry we had to call you in when you're on vacation, but the patient wouldn't see anyone else,” Junmyeon said as he sat down outside a cafe not far from the hospital.

 

“It's fine, I needed something to keep me busy,” Yixing said taking a seat across from the other doctor. He had barely landed back in South Korea when he had received the call that a patient needed treatment, but refused to let anyone else touch them. They were a XDA, very young, who had been a bit too rough with their personal explorations and Minseok had gone on a day trip to Japan that morning with Yifan. Zitao had gotten Yixing a cab and sent him off saying he would take care of the reports and kissed him before the car had drove off. It had been an awkward ride with the driver. If it hadn't been for the fact that Yixing had mentioned he was a doctor who was in a hurry, the driver might have forced him out by the way his jaw was set when Yixing caught his reflection in the mirror.

 

“Hasn't your new boyfriend been keeping you busy?” Junmyeon asked with a teasing smile. “You literally just stepped off a plane from China when we called.”

 

Yixing's face heated up. “Y-yes, well, it wasn't a trip we had planned to take. Did you hear that from Minseok?”

 

“Baekhyun,” Junmyeon said. “I wish he didn't have to rush off to work, too. I did promise you a double date, but now you'll have to watch me be sickeningly sappy with Kyungsoo.”

 

“It's alright. You didn't even have to buy me lunch,” Yixing said. He felt tired. It was the first time he had wanted to decline a request from the hospital, not that he would have, but he had almost wanted to complain about it.

 

“Nonsense. Let me do this much. I was going to eat with Kyungsoo anyways. Speaking of Kyungsoo,” Junmyeon said and waved behind Yixing.

 

Yixing turned to see his friend's fiance walking towards them in a black long sleeved shirt and black hat, sunglasses in his left hand and a black bag hung over his right shoulder. He waved at them with his sunglasses then hurried over and pulled up a chair next to Junmyeon.

 

“Sorry I wasn't here first,” he said looking at Junmyeon then turned to Yixing and bowed his head in his direction. “I apologize if Junmyeon pulled you out of prior engagements to eat with us. We were just going to go over wedding plans.”

 

Junmyeon laughed and reached out a hand to rub the back of his fiance's neck. “We weren't just going to talk wedding. We were going to flirt, too.”

 

Kyungsoo's face flushed with pink and he turned to his bag pulling out a magazine and a small notebook. He looked at Junmyeon then looked at Yixing.

 

“I'm not very interested in these sorts of things, but I have a list of the basics I should have in mind before going to a wedding planner. We're trying to decide on a shade of blue. Which do you like better, Yixing?” Kyungsoo asked pushing a page with different blocks with different shades of powder blue towards Yixing.

 

“Um, they're all blue,” Yixing said.

 

“Be glad they're not black. Kyungsoo would have just said to make everything black if I hadn't gotten him that magazine,” Junmyeon said.

 

Kyungsoo turned to his fiance with a glare. “And you were going to let my mother plan it. She wanted everything to be pink.”

 

“Didn't you agree to pink roses at least?”

 

“Yes, pink roses. The rest is blue.”

 

Yixing pointed at a random blue on the page. “This one might be nice with pink.”

 

Kyungsoo pulled the page back to him and nodded. “That was one I was thinking. I'll let the wedding planner make the final decisions since it's going to be overseas.”

 

A waiter came a moment later and took their orders.

 

“The wedding isn't until spring, Kyungsoo,” Junmyeon said.

 

“That's not too far away. We'll have to get sized for tuxes in the winter if your mother doesn't force us to do it sooner. I don't want one of those expensive Italian things,” Kyungsoo said.

 

“She wants us to wear white.”

 

“I'm wearing black,” Kyungsoo said.

 

“Then I'll wear a white one,” Junmyeon said and shrugged. There was a beeping from his side and he pulled out his phone frowning. “Excuse me, it's from the director.” He stood and walked over to a more private area of the outside veranda.

 

“So, you landed in China?”

 

Yixing turned to Kyungsoo. “Oh, yes I was in China a few hours ago.”

 

Kyungsoo shook his head then pinned Yixing with a sharp look. “No, you landed in China. Using the time warp.”

 

Yixing eyes widened and he glanced over to Junmyeon.

 

“He doesn't know. There's no point in him knowing. I'll forget in a few months anyways,” Kyungsoo said.

 

“What do you mean?” Yixing asked.

 

“I work for the MIB, but I'm quitting. We want to adopt children, Junmyeon and I. Since Junmyeon doesn't know about aliens there's no point in me keeping my memories of them either. We're both humans and I'll be taking care of the children. He knows I'm not exactly a businessman. I'm not the greatest at keeping secrets,” Kyungsoo said.

 

“I...yes, China. Are the princesses alright?”

 

“They're fine. Agent Sehun and Chanyeol found them. They went off to their own hiding place kept secret from both the MIB and the SFPP. I suppose they had it in the case of a potential kidnapping or corruption. They'll have to find a new one now, though. As for the information you and Agent Z.T collected, it is still being investigated. You did well, Yixing, on your mission, but you should quit.”

 

Yixing frowned. “It's only temporary. Z.T doesn't have a partner and I'm already involved.”

 

“You've always been involved and my partner should work well with him. I'm quitting as well so it works out. It's fine if you stay as Medic Lay, but this is a full time job as is being a doctor. When your vacation is up, which will you choose?”

 

“It's temporary. Of course I'll go back to being a doctor, but if they need my help—”

 

“You work too much, Dr. Zhang,” Kyungsoo said and took a sip of his drink. “So does my Junmyeon, but he at least knows his limits and his family values him too much not to pull strings when needed. Who do you have? Your roommate will leave with that Shade. Your Dracos friend has a new lover. And the paramedic spends every afternoon watching over the pizzeria owner who is still in the hospital. It's the safest place for him. You need to learn to take care of yourself.”

 

Who did Yixing have? No one. His adopted mother hadn't visited him since he got into college. He hadn't seen his Layan parent in person since they'd run off to the SFPP science department. Yixing's father didn't know he existed. His crush was getting married to someone else...no, his friends had others they loved more. He was alone.

 

Well, there was Zitao, but that was a recent fling that Yixing couldn't trust to last. But, though Zitao was quick to jump the gun, he was sweet and said the right things. He apologized and tried. There was an urge to know more about Zitao, but the more Yixing knew the more he wondered if it could last this thing between them. Zitao might like Yixing, but he was still in love with that Arbokian woman wasn't he?

 

Yixing reached out for his glass of water. “I never planned to stay with the MIB past my vacation. I'm a doctor. That's all I ever wanted to be.”

 

He lifted the glass to his lips and took a sip. As long as they were happy, Yixing didn't need to be loved.

 

He didn't need it.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

The apartment was empty when Yixing arrived. There was a note on the kitchen counter telling Yixing Luhan had left him food in the fridge and a few pieces of stray clothing that told Yixing Jongin had brought Luhan home safely after the night's incident. Yixing had texted his roommate before heading to the hospital and had gotten an all clear back. He was glad Luhan was fine. He hoped he didn't overwork himself carrying heavy camera equipment around. Too much longer and there would need to be a discussion with the higher ups at the news station. Luhan would be too big to hide it by Christmas.

 

Yixing moved down the hall finally feeling his exhaustion. His body ached and his mind didn't want to think anymore, but he couldn't help but think. He knew if he laid down he would be too restless to sleep, but if he ate, he would be too upset to digest it. Yixing went to his closet and struggled with pulling out a change of clothes then went for a cold shower to wake himself up. He thought about pleasuring himself just for something to do, something to calm his nerves and tire out his mind, but thinking of that made him think of Zitao. He would rather have his boyfriend hold him gently than mess with Luhan's recommendations for toys.

 

A quick toweling, and Yixing was at his desk with his computer looking for a video game to keep him preoccupied for the next four to six hours or until Luhan got home. The download time was an hour and so Yixing sat there watching the bar fill before getting up to retrieve the leftovers Luhan had left. He came back with a bowl of black bean noodles and a carbonated drink. He stuffed noodles into his mouth as he settled back into his chair in front of the computer and continued watching the bar fill up. Suddenly, there was a beeping. Yixing turned his attention to a little icon in the corner of his task bar that was blinking between yellow and green. He put down his food and clicked it. A video window popped up with the image of a young androgynous person in a skin tight jumpsuit, skin tinted a bit more green than normal. They had large eyes but their bowed lips were covered by the collar of their jumpsuit. There was an option hovering over them asking for their call to be accepted.

 

Automatically, Yixing found himself accepting the call while straightening up in his chair.

 

“Yixing,” the Layan greeted.

 

“Mother,” Yixing greeted back.

 

The Layan's eyes narrowed. “You don't have to call me that. Those are Earthling terms. Y’et Ja'an St’ir Vich'ac, or have you forgotten your Layan.”

 

No, Yixing hadn't forgotten if his brief trip in China had taught him anything. “I know who you are, Ja’an. It has been a while since you've contacted me.”

 

“You were studying and Minhee had you taken care of. She is your legal mother after all,” Ja'an said.

 

More like a caretaker. His adopted Earthling mother held no love for Yixing, only interest. She had fed him and given him money and the things he needed, but Yixing mostly remembered his time at home being alone. Any time he did spend with his adopted mother, he was surrounded by books or she was faking her role at his school. “I don't believe you can consider it studying when I'm already a well known doctor.”

 

“But not an award winning one,” Ja'an pointed out.

 

“I don't work to win awards, Ja'an. I'm trying to help people,” Yixing said.

 

Ja'an closed their eyes then sighed. “Let us leave that topic, Yixing. I have something for you to deliver. You haven't been to China in a while, have you?”

 

“I recently took a day trip there,” Yixing said. “I've been put on mandatory vacation.”

 

Ja'an's eyebrows furrowed. “I'm aware of that. I never did understand this Earthling idea of vacation. When you're tired you sleep. If you like what you're working on then you should work with all your passion. Earthling schedules have always been strange. I could never hold a job there.”

 

Yixing remembered that. He remembered Ja'an coming home to the apartment and throwing dirtied aprons across the couch and cursing bosses in Layan before changing into tight fitting clothes that sparkled and attracted. Ja'an had long hair back then. Yellow like daffodils. Now it was all shaved off. Ja'an would tie it in a low bun and put on slacks and a button up and go searching for a job then come home and curl their hair and put on heels and a padded bra and come back stinking of booze and men late at night only to stay up longer to study. And when Yixing came out of their shared bedroom to check on Ja'an, they would pull a sleepy Yixing into their lap and explain to him the anatomy of a Shade and an XDA even though he was too young to understand, but he forced himself to make sense of it just so he would have questions. Ja’an always smiled explaining science to Yixing.

 

The Ja'an Yixing knew before he was abandoned was warm and sad and tired, but then they left for space to study and became cold but happy. Yixing thought Ja'an was happy studying medicine in space. Happier than they had been trying to feed Yixing at least.

 

“Either way, will you take another trip there? There is an old man who still holds some Arbokian knowledge. He hasn't been feeling well recently so I created a medicine to ease the pain. He's very old and a hybrid. There is no point to laying hands on him, but he is important to the SFPP.”

 

“I'll deliver,” Yixing said. “How long until the medicine gets here?”

 

Ja'an started to type at a computer off to the side. “Tomorrow. The SFPP must have ranked you up. I didn't have to go through Minhee to make you the deliverer. Did they find out you were a Layan hybrid?”

 

“Yes,” Yixing said. “I wasn't hiding it.”

 

Ja'an's eyebrows furrowed again. “How troublesome. I thought you were just an Earthling when you were born. At least mostly. You have that breathing problem, but Earthlings have breathing problems as well. It was easy to cover up.”

 

“Was I really so troublesome? You could have given me to my father,” Yixing said.

 

“What nonsense are you speaking, Yixing? I have told you I have no idea who your father was. I had way too much freedom on Earth and you happened as a consequence of that.”

 

A consequence, a mistake, a regret – Yixing always wondered why Ja'an ever contacted him. Was it because he was useful?

 

“I know who my father is. You must have been close to him for him to know Layan.”

 

Ja'an straightened up in their seat and slowly turned away from their typing to look at Yixing again. “He knew only a few words. Who are you talking about?”

 

“The policeman that always walked by our door. I know you didn't become a prostitute until after I was born. You always pushed me away when he walked by and you never answered the door when he called for you,” Yixing said.

 

“He was just a man,” Ja'an insisted.

 

“I met him the other day. Zhang Ying. I don't have your trade name of Vich’ac. You weren’t a scientist then. And I don't have Minhee's surname. You gave me his. He said he liked the name Yixing. He had dimples and a longer face. He spoke in broken Layan. Why did you never tell me about him?”

 

Ja'an sighed and slowly pulled their collar down to reveal their bowed lips and an ugly scar on their chin. “Because he left me. I was fifteen Earthling years when I hopped on a ship to Earth to study, but I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was. Everything was so much more exciting on Earth. It wasn't as calm as Laya. I got swept into it all and forgot about my studies. I started to fail the tests and so my funds became less and less and they threatened to bring me back. I stole instead, flirting with men at clubs and bars and that was how I met that policeman. He was barely in his twenties and confused. He liked women and didn't like women. But, I was desperate for him to love me the way my friends talked about love. As Layan I can do that, but it was stupid of me.”

 

“You were in love with him so you made a mistake,” Yixing said.

 

“I was young so I made a mistake. I had a thought that this man could take care of me, that we could have a family like those I saw in movies on Earth and so I got pregnant,” Ja'an said. “He left before I had officially found out. He got transferred to a coastal city. I didn't see him again until you were three. I had already given you to Minhee, there was nothing he could do even if you were still living with me. Minhee didn't want you until you could take care of yourself, but she did want you. It’s not everyday you come across a Layan-Earthling male hybrid.”

 

Yixing frowned. “You should have told him. You should have gone out and told him. He knew what you were. He obviously learned Layan to be closer to you. Why didn't you tell him!”

 

“Are you yelling at me, Yixing? Are you letting passion get the better of you? I thought you were smarter than that. That was why I never told him, because I was better than those feelings. I had let so many other men touch me and it never felt any different. Those feelings are not as important as a discovery, that is euphoria. I can discover something that will leave a mark in the world for decades to come, but love, love doesn't last, Yixing. A mother dog will eventually stop feeding her pups. Humans aren't much different. We reproduce because we have to. It has nothing to do with love. I have no time for such idiotic conversations. I will send you the medicine. It is best if you forget about the police officer. Forget all first six years of your life.”

 

The video feed suddenly went black. Yixing raised a fist and slammed it on his desk.

 

Forget. Forget. Forget.

 

Perhaps if Ja'an had been cruel or if Ja'an hadn't left him so suddenly he could forget, but Yixing didn't want to forget. He may have been poor and pathetic, but, for the first six years of his life, Yixing had had a parent’s love.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

The game Yixing had downloaded proved to be much more interesting than Yixing had originally taken it for and it was already dark before he took a break. He went out to the kitchen to do some mindless cleaning when he heard the door opened. Luhan walked in and placed down a heavy bag by the door rubbing his back then rubbed his chest with an unpleasant expression.

 

“Luhan?” Yixing asked walking out of the kitchen.

 

“Oh, you're back,” Luhan said. He rubbed his chest more then pulled off his beanie and fanned himself with it. “I thought it was fall already. Why is it so hot?”

 

“You've been at work,” Yixing pointed out.

 

Luhan walked slowly down the hall and disappeared. Yixing continued his cleaning until he heard gagging and rushed over to the bathroom to see Luhan half undressed and bent over the toilet bowl. He sighed and knelt down beside Luhan, rubbing his back as the XDA finished cleaning his stomach. Luhan sat back and wiped his face. Yixing stood and soaked a washcloth in cold water patting at Luhan's face. When he had cooled down, Yixing pulled out Luhan's toothbrush and put paste on it, placing it on the counter then left. He went back to the kitchen and started rummaging through the counter putting tea on and laying out a few pills then rushed to his room to get a few devices he had brought back after taking Luhan to the MIB headquarters when they had found out the XDA was pregnant.

 

After a few minutes, Luhan tumbled out and onto the couch in just a tank top and boxers. Yixing grabbed the tea and medicine and put them on the coffee table. “Lay out straight and lift up your shirt. I want to check on the baby.”

 

Luhan muttered, but did as told and Yixing smeared gel onto Luhan's stomach then put the device against it.

 

“How is it?” Luhan asked.

 

“It's fine. I don't have a bigger monitor for you to see, but we'll do that another day. It's normal to get indigestion every now and then especially when you work too hard. I can get someone from the SFPP to talk to your boss about giving you lighter work. It's not safe for you to carry around heavy camera equipment. You're already showing.”

 

Luhan groaned. “Being pregnant sucks. I'm just going to get rid of it.”

 

Yixing frowned. “Luhan, you're not serious about that, are you?”

 

“Why not?” Luhan asked and covered his face. “It's so troublesome. It's going to make everything so complicated.”

 

“Luhan, for one, you're too far along. XDA pregnancies aren't easy to abort after three months. But, if you still want to try, I won't stop you, it's your body. However, you'll have a hard time finding someone that will do it,” Yixing said.

 

“There's you,” Luhan said.

 

“I refuse,” Yixing replied.

 

“Why in the world would...” Luhan started finally uncovering his face, but seeing Yixing's, he trailed off and looked away, shame suddenly showing. “I'm sorry. Of course you wouldn't.”

 

“I don't think you really want to get rid of it,” Yixing pointed out.

 

“Why would you think that?”

 

Yixing started to wipe off Luhan's stomach. “Because it's Jongin's child, too. You complain about the Shade, but you've always talked about him. He's on your mind all the time. Even before you two dated, you always talked about the boy from the new coffee shop and how he should quit staring at you.”

 

Luhan chuckled then sighed. “I don't hate him.”

 

“Luhan, have you told Jongin?” Yixing asked.

 

Luhan looked away. “No.”

 

“You should tell him.”

 

“But...it's not his fault,” Luhan said.

 

“You didn't get pregnant on your own.”

 

The XDA sighed again and moved his hands to his stomach. “Yeah, but I'm the instigator. On my birthday, I was the one that climbed into his lap. I was so excited to get a real penis inside me and Jongin's gorgeous in all forms. He did try and talk me out of it, but he gave in really easily. Then he avoided me for a whole month and came back with flowers and an apology. I kicked him out of bed that first time when I woke up, he thought I was angry with him and regretted it. I was just embarrassed and I'm always cranky in the morning.”

 

“Luhan, tell Jongin. He'll be able to tell himself soon if you don't,” Yixing insisted and moved onto the couch lifting Luhan's legs and then setting the XDA's feet in his lap. He started poking at Luhan's toes. His feet looked swollen.

 

“What if...what if he doesn't want me? What if he leaves me alone with a child. A beautiful child. Our child would be beautiful, don't you think?”

 

“It will be,” Yixing agreed, “but I don't think he would leave you pregnant or not.”

 

“What makes you say that?” Luhan asked.

 

Yixing remembered his lunch with Kyungsoo and Junmyeon. Kyungsoo was part of the MIB, but he was leaving to get married and raise children. Jongin was leaving because of Luhan, but not just because they were dating. And Zitao had mentioned he would leave if it meant those he loved would be safer.

 

“Because Jongin is resigning from the MIB,” Yixing said. “You don't resign just because you're dating someone. I think he wants children with you. He wants to settle down with you.”

 

Luhan's face flushed and he rubbed his stomach more. “Do you think that's true?”

 

“Yes, he loves you, Luhan. He may not have expected you to be pregnant now, but I'm sure he would be happy if you told him,” Yixing said.

 

“He does like small cute things,” Luhan said. “I suppose children count. Children with my nose and his lips and cat ears. I love him, too, you know.”

 

“I know you do no matter how many times you insist you hate the Shade,” Yixing said and reached out a hand to touch Luhan's stomach. “In a couple months we'll know if it’s a hermaphrodite or not.”

 

“I want a boy. Jongin’s probably going to want a girl or a hermaphrodite.” Luhan smiled and rubbed his stomach more. “I guess...mistakes aren't always bad. Like mixing up briefcases. You got yourself a boyfriend because of it.”

 

Yixing smiled bitterly. He did get a boyfriend. And he had had sex. But, how long would that last? Were they even good for each other? Could they love each other?

 

Suddenly, Luhan sat up and curled himself against Yixing, wrapping his arms around his roommate. “You're a good mistake, Yixing. Remember that. And remember I love you, okay? You can be the godfather or whatever.”

 

Yixing's mouth twitched and he felt warm in his roommate's embrace. He tilted his head so it was touching Luhan's. “Jongin has made you sappy.”

  
Luhan chuckled. “Love has.”


	16. I Just Want Him To Be Happy

**16\. I Just Want Him To Be Happy**

 

    Yixing felt shaky when he landed in China again only two days after his previous trip. He had been contacted by Zitao once to give him a run down of their findings. It appeared Zitao had succeeded in getting enough information out of the system on Arachnia Prime for the MIB to put together a large scale attack against the Arbokian hybrid resistance. Though Yixing was technically Zitao's partner for the duration of the month, Zitao hadn't asked Yixing to help with the plans. The MIB, just as Kyungsoo had said, were already starting to pitch Zitao with another member during simulations. When Yixing had mentioned he had to do an errand in China for the SFPP Layan science department, Zitao had insisted on going with Yixing, but Yixing had refused the offer. Zitao was busy and he didn't need the emotional support Zitao must have thought Yixing needed. He wasn't going to his hometown. The Arbokian hybrid man who needed medicine lived on the beach hours from where Yixing had been born.

 

Travelling from the airport to the beach took much longer than Yixing had assumed. He had never taken public transportation in China before. As a child, if he couldn't walk there he didn't go and most of the time he just stayed inside. Ja'an did put him in school, but, most of the time, she kept him home and made him self study with books in Korean, Chinese, and Layan. He would wander out of the house when Ja'an left for early shifts and Minhee wasn't helping out. It had started when he was three, being left home alone. He only ever went as far as the lady's shop a few doors down and would hand over handfuls of coins for a piece of candy before going back up the stairs with a key hung around his neck on a chain. There was a neighbor girl around ten that would knock on his door on weekends who would walk him all the way down the street and around the block to get candy and see the neighborhood dogs then come back home. Sometimes she would bring him into her apartment and make him pancakes while her grandmother slept on the sofa. Other times she made him strip and forced her dresses on him then attacked his face with makeup which was sometimes markers or finger paints. Yixing gave her a birthday present one year, a kiss on her cheek. She had been his first crush back before Yixing understood what crushes were.

 

When Yixing finally arrived at the beach, the sun was dying down. He was jolted from a nap when the bus came to a stop and others around him started getting off. His legs were still shaking as he followed the procession off and he walked over to a bench to sit pulling his one day bag into his lap to check on the medicine and pull out the address. He wasn't sure how far from this particular bus stop the man's apartment was. He'd have to take a taxi. Yixing stood and looked up and down the street, but he didn't see one. A car suddenly rolled up to the bus stop and lowered one window.

 

“Dr. Zhang Yixing,” a voice said from inside.

 

Yixing moved towards the car and peaked in. It was a western male, Yixing couldn't identify which country just by his appearance, but he thought he sounded American. “Who are you?”

 

“I believe you have brought my prescription to me from Vich'ac,” the man said.

 

Yixing squinted and, yes, he could see a bit of the ridges around the man's eyes that indicated an Arbokian. He started digging through his bag.

 

“Get in, doctor. You will need to supervise the effects of the medicine for the first hour after I take it,” the man said.

 

“Oh, yes, alright,” Yixing said and reached for the passenger side door handle, sliding in. The car was old, but an expensive old. He hadn't seen a car with maroon interior since he was young, but the fabric parts were deep cleaned and soft and the leather barely scratched up at the seams. He buckled in and watched the sun settle more and more beneath the waves as the man drove.

 

Fifteen minutes later, they were at the man's apartment. He lived in one of the better looking buildings on the highest cliff in one of the tallest apartments. The apartment itself was something worth noting with polished wood interiors closely resembling something Yixing would imagine one of the first rich condos in England to look like. Though it didn't have the large modern windows or open floor plan like Zitao's apartment did, Yixing thought the man must be rich to afford this place.

 

“It's nothing much, really. Hand me the pills and I will take one,” the man said.

 

Yixing opened his bag and pulled out a box about the size of his hand's length and handed it to the man. “You're suppose to take it after all your meals with some water.”

 

“Will do. Please, look around if you would like. I have nothing to hide with the SFPP always watching over me,” the man said and headed to a room off to the side were lingering smells of dinner were.

 

Yixing decided to go the opposite way. He ended up in a room with decorated cushioned chairs set before a fire place with recently used logs inside and rows and rows of books, most in English. Yixing moved from that room into the next, a small basic bathroom, then to another room with a desk and more books. On the desk was an opened lock box with strips of strange paper with numbers written on them. Yixing slid up to them and touched one of the strips. It rippled with a pulse like a computer screen might when touched.

 

“Ah, it would appear I've grown careless. I left something very important opened,” the man said walking inside and took a seat in the large chair behind the desk placing his glass of water on a coaster off on the edge of the desk.

 

“I...was I not to come in here?” Yixing asked.

 

“Take a seat, doctor. I invited you to wander,” the man said.

 

There were two chairs on the opposite side of the desk and Yixing took up one. “Was the medicine alright?”

 

“Tasted as awful as usual, but it helps with the old pains,” the man said and picked up the padded box. “Were you interested in these?”

 

“Not particularly,” Yixing said.

 

“Ah, but I can tell they seem familiar to you. What do you think they are?” the man asked.

 

Yixing frowned. “I was told you have a bit of the old Arbokian rule's power in your hands.”

 

“That is true.” The man tapped the box. “These are the last strips of time travel left from the war. There use to be more, but I've given them away over the years. You see, my mother was a fortune teller and her mother before her, all humans. My father was the Arbokian, but he took my mother then left her to forget about him, but he also left her with this paper. She wasn’t sure if it was real or not, but something told her she was never to use it for herself. She told me the same when she taught me how to use them. She was the one that wrote most of these numbers on the special paper. They are certain dates with certain locations. The voices would tell her what to write and how many of each. If they aren't used by the time the date written on them, they expire. Many have expired, but many have been used as well. Or, at the very least, taken. I remember a young man who came to me ten times. Or perhaps nine of those were dreams. It was always the same time the same day. Different me, but the same him. And I wonder how many times you are destined to see me.”

 

“I have no interest in changing time,” Yixing said.

 

“Oh, but don't you?” the man suddenly dug through his box and pulled out two slips of the time traveling paper. He slid one towards Yixing. “This date and time is quite similar to the one the young man kept coming back for. It is two days before, but in South Korea. And this one,” the man said sliding another slip of paper towards Yixing, “is probably a very familiar date to you.”

 

Yixing's eyes widened looking at the paper. He didn't know it from memory, but he knew it from Ja'an's and Minhee's conversations. It was the first day Yixing had gotten sick, when they found out about his breathing problems. He had gone to the hospital as only a six month old baby. Yixing started to shake.

 

“A baby has enough strength to pull a small tube loose, don't you think?” the man said. His eyes were dark. They held knowledge, not wisdom.

 

Yixing glared. “What is the meaning of this?”

 

The man smirked. “I told you I come from a family of fortune tellers. In my dreams I can hear the other me’s telling me of peoples' other choices in other lives, other branches. You can not go back to a time you didn't exist in, but you can change the past if you know of it now.”

 

“But why these two times?” Yixing asked.

 

“I can read you. I can read most people. This time,” the man slid the older paper closer to Yixing, “I learned from Vich'ac. Just from that conversation with them and my conversation with you, I know you two do not get along. And from your reaction, it causes you pain. Do you want to erase the existence of any other past you? Unless Vich'ac goes back to save you or your adopted mother, there will be no one to stop you from stopping yourself.”

 

Yixing clenched his fists in his lap. Stop himself? What would that do? Maybe Ja'an wouldn't have to prostitute themselves. Maybe they could have gotten into the SFPP science program faster. Maybe they could have gone home. Minhee wouldn't have had him to worry about. But...but Yixing was a doctor. What about all the people he had saved? The dog in middle school, Luhan running to him in college, Zitao falling from the sky – what would happen to them? Yixing turned to look at the other strip.

 

“You seemed interested when I talked about the man that came back again and again. I have always known this one was connected to him. I thought perhaps he would eventually figure out that he might need to go even farther back before he could truly save her. But, perhaps you're meant to help him.”

 

Yixing stared at the sheet. Zitao. Zitao had traveled back in time a dozen times to try and save that hybrid princess from her own kind, but he never could. It was already too late. But, had he gone back before the SFPP had raided their home, could they have run away together.

 

“Pick one of these strips, but only one. You can not do both. It will be a thank you for bringing an old man his painkillers.”

 

“I don't...want them,” Yixing said.

 

“Take one. If you don't want to use it, simply wait for it to expire or burn it. They won't be of any use to me soon. The portals for each of these will open soon,” the man said and sipped his water. “If no one is there to take it then they’re a waste.”

 

Yixing stood and bowed. “I appreciate the offer, but I must decline.” He headed for the door.

 

“Wait, Doctor Zhang,” the man called out.

 

Yixing turned only for his hand to be grabbed and one of the papers pushed into it. “I should have guessed your decision for you. You are a doctor after all. Of course you would choose to help others over ending your own miserable life.”

 

Yixing frowned and pulled the door opened, leaving with hurried angered steps. When he was out of the apartment, he opened his palm to see which paper the man had given him.

 

Zitao's destiny was in his hand.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

Yixing hopped on a plane to Changsha. Originally, he had planned on getting a hotel on the beach and then heading home in the morning, but he wanted as far away from the Arbokian fortune teller as he could get. Yixing rolled up to his childhood apartment in a taxi just before ten. Changsha was nowhere close to as far as Yixing could have gone, but when he had arrived at the airport to buy a last minute ticket, he had seen that there was a plane leaving within the hour for his home town and had hopped on. He got out of the taxi and stood in front of the apartment. If he wanted to take time to reminiscence about his childhood, he should have gotten a hotel room then come back in the morning, but Yixing's decisions were being made spontaneously. He didn't want to think. Thinking made him remember people that he loved and the problems that they faced. He remembered Zitao and the strip of alien technology enhanced paper in Yixing's pocket. He walked up to the front door of the apartment then inside.

 

The stairs were smaller than Yixing remembered them and less melodic. He enjoyed jumping up and down them enticed by the different tones the creaks of metal and wood made depending on which part of the rot his stood. There use to be an old woman on the floor below them that always yelled at him to stop, but it was one of the many ways he had passed time while waiting for Ja'an to return from their day job and Minhee had decided not to show up. Minhee often didn't show up. Even in South Korea, she was gone for days on end, but she had cameras set up around the house and people watching their every step. Yixing had known how to take care of himself since very young. Don't touch the stove and don't turn on anything that wasn't on already. Even if that meant he was stuck sitting in the dark forcing his eyes to make out the lines in his picture book between cracks of lightening in a storm.

 

Yixing's hands gripped the railings of the stairs tight. Once on the sixth floor, he pushed his hands into his jacket pockets and felt around for his inhaler, fiddling with it once he'd found it. His other hand touched the edge of a piece of paper and he immediately pulled his hands back out.

 

Yixing walked up to the door that use to be his. It was a different style door painted white instead of the bright red it use to be and the number was different, but the layout of the apartment hadn't changed. He supposed there had been some renovating in the past two decades. Yixing lifted a fist to knock. He did so quietly. It was only ten, but he couldn't be sure if the new renters would be open to a late night chat. Yixing wasn't even sure what he wanted to talk about.

 

The door opened and a girl stood in the door frame no older than Yixing had been when he left China. She had one ponytail on the top of her head and wore a cheap version of a princess' dress, red sauce staining one cheek and a hand.

 

“Liyang,” said a woman's voice, “you can't go answering the door for just anyone.”

 

“But, Daddy,” the little girl said.

 

The woman appeared in the doorway and pushed the girl back inside. “He won't be here until past your bedtime. Now go get in the bath with Min.”

 

The little girl trotted off and the woman turned to Yixing with an easy tiredness, pushing loosened strands from her messy ponytail out of her face. She was pretty in an honest way. There were signs of exhaustion in her face and a roundness in her midriff, but her eyes still sparkled.

 

“Ah, little Yixing,” the woman said.

 

Yixing's eyes widened. He hadn't expected the tenant to know him.

 

The woman laughed. “Ah, you might not remember me, it was two decades ago or more since we last saw each other. “I was your neighbor. Your older girlfriend that took you on dates around the block.”

 

“W-were they dates?” Yixing asked.

 

The woman laughed. She threw her head back when she did and licked her lips when she was done just like Yixing's neighbor use to. Yes, he could see that girl turning into this woman before him, just getting settled in her thirties.

 

“No, you were more like my puppy, but the other neighbors liked to say as much.”

 

“I'm afraid I don't remember much from then,” Yixing said. “I was very young.”

 

The woman frowned. “You were and very alone. Where did you run off to? I was twelve when you left. Plenty old enough to be worried.”

 

“I was adopted. I moved to South Korea,” Yixing said.

 

“Oh, South Korea? How is it there?”

 

“It's alright,” Yixing said. “I became a doctor.”

 

The woman's eyes widened. “Oh, wow, a doctor?.” She looked Yixing up and down. “Well, I could believe it. I just became a mother. I did work as a secretary for a while before this. Saved up a pretty penny, but it's better spent on the children than the house. My husband is a rugged thing. He gave me twin girls before he could even slip the wedding band on my finger. We'd have ten more by now if we weren't encouraged not to.”

 

“She was cute,” Yixing said.

 

The woman smiled fondly looking quickly behind her. “She is. Do you have any of your own? You're a good looking guy with a good job.”

 

Yixing frowned. “I don't have any. My roommate is pregnant, though.”

 

“Oh? A female roommate? It's not your child?”

 

Yixing shook his head. “No, they're like an older sibling to me. I've had a long relationship with my job. I did recently start seeing someone.”

 

“That's good, that's good,” the woman said.

 

“Ah...” Yixing trailed off. He didn't remember her name. They had already been talking for a few minutes and he felt it would have been rude to ask even if she knew his. “There's been renovations?”

 

“Hmm?” The woman looked around. “Oh, yes, yes. Actually, I moved in here when I was in college. It was better than my husband's apartment. My parents moved out when the twins were born to take care of my grandparents. There's a lot of other tenants you might not know. They did the renovations so they could get new tenants.”

 

Yixing turned his head towards the stairs. “They don't squeak anymore.”

 

The woman laughed. “You liked playing on them. Thank goodness they don't, though. It's a lot safer around here now. They've got cops walking up and down the streets. Just patrolling, nothing serious, but good thing your mother moved out when she did.”

 

Yixing furrowed his brows. Of course it must have been obvious what Ja'an had been doing late at night, or at least there had been rumors of it.

 

“Oh, one even moved in next door a few years back.”

 

Jongin stopped frowning and turned to the apartment the woman before him use to live in. “What's his name?”

 

“The cop's? Zhang something. Ying?”

 

“Do...you think he's available right now? I'm on vacation and there was an officer that helped me out the other day when I passed through.”

 

The woman seemed confused, but shrugged. “Sure, why not? He's usually off duty by now. Besides, I need to go make sure my monsters didn't pass out in the tub.”

 

Yixing left the woman to move to the next door. Again, he reached for his inhaler, his other hand going to the door to knock.

 

“Coming, just one moment,” a man said from the other side. Yixing's heart beat quicker when he heard footsteps coming closer and then the door opened and the officer from the other day stood in front of him. For a moment, the officer seemed confused then frowned. “What happened? Did your flight get delayed?”

 

Yixing shook his head. “I had business here. I was sent to deliver something from a Ja'an Vich'ac.”

 

The name registered in the man's face faster than Yixing's appearance had. It made him frown more. “And what does this Ja'an have to deliver me?”

 

Yixing lowered his head. “Ja'an had business with another. They're a scientist.”

 

The police officer's frown grew more. “Good for them.”

 

“I have something to deliver, however. May I come in?” Yixing asked.

 

The man took a step back and looked Yixing over. “Who are you?”

 

Yixing looked the man in the eye. He felt his nerves shaking. This, this was really him, right? “Can you guess? You said you liked my name. Should you have a son, would you want him to look like me?”

 

The officer's eyes widened and he pulled Yixing into the apartment closing the door behind them rather loudly. He whipped Yixing around and held him at arm's length looking him over and over again. “You look like me, but much prettier.”

 

“Ja'an is still pretty,” Yixing said. Even the scar Ja'an had gained from their partying first years on Earth didn't take away from that.

 

The officer sighed. “I'm sure they are. Then again, I was sure they loved me as well.”

 

Yixing reached up and grabbed the man's arms, his father's arms, squeezing them. “I thought I was loved, too.”

 

Confusion showed on Yixing's father's face, but he didn't ask questions right away. “Come, sit. I have coffee.”

 

Yixing followed his father to a small table set up in the kitchen area of the apartment. He watched him pour coffee into two mugs with hearts on them, one big heart between them that connected if they were tapped together.

 

“I'm afraid all I have are couple mugs. My last lover...my last boyfriend was rather into couple stuff. That's why we broke up. It was five years after I finished my training. He was ten years younger than me. He found someone twelves years younger than him and moved to Hong Kong with him. As if they're any more accepting than here.”

 

“You're bisexual,” Yixing stated.

 

“Yes,” his father replied and took a sip of his drink. “You?”

 

“I...have a boyfriend. I've had girlfriends. I don't often find people I'm interested in,” Yixing said.

 

His father leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Well, I’m sure they have a label for whatever that is. They have a label for everything nowadays, but what was with that pause?”

 

Yixing felt warm, but also terrified that his father had noticed his worry. He wanted to know this man, but he also thought it was stupid to have waltzed so carelessly into this man's life. What if he had had a family. What if he had grown bitter and cold like Ja'an?

 

“Do you ever wish you could go back in time and fix something?” Yixing asked.

 

“Don't we all? I wish I hadn't gone off to training. Even more now that I see you. I can understand why Ja'an may have been angry with me. I left them to raise a child all alone. I would have loved you both if I had known,” the officer said.

 

A side of Yixing's lips lifted up in a smile, but then he frowned again and stared at the dark brown surface of his coffee, plain coffee. No milk, no fancy art, Yixing doubted there was even sugar in it. “Ja'an wouldn't have become a scientist. I may not have become a doctor.”

 

“A doctor? Are you a good doctor?”

 

Yixing shrugged. “I'm relied on a lot.”

 

The officer took another sip of his coffee then placed it down, hand still on the handle. “I suppose you saving lives is more important than my love life.”

 

“Is it?” Yixing asked. He stopped looking at his coffee and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He felt around and felt the edge of the time traveling slip of paper poke his finger. He stroked it. “I was born sickly. You must know about Layans. Too much carbon dioxide makes me sick to my stomach, but not enough and I can't breath. Ja'an is not good with people. She had learned a different type of Earthling mannerism. I saw my birth parent come home every afternoon cursing bosses and ignorant Earthlings. And then they would change. Ja'an took advantage of Earthlings' ignorance and let them take advantage of their body.”

 

Yixing's father grumbled under his breath.

 

“I know you tried to apologize. I think, sometimes, if I wasn't born, Ja'an could have been a scientist faster, could have rekindled with you. I think those things, but my birth is not something I want to change,” Yixing said.

 

“I am happy you were born, Yixing, even if I'm almost thirty years too late,” the officer said.

 

“I have done too much for people not to be born, but what if I could do one more thing? Your love can never be as important as the people you love's love, right?”

 

“That is an interesting thought,” his father said and lifted a hand to his chin, rubbing at a light scruff. “But, are you happy if you do it?”

 

No, no Yixing wouldn't be happy, but all the past Yixings to come wouldn't know what that lack of bliss felt like. They wouldn't know what it felt to miss it. Yixing pulled his hands out of his pockets and leaned forward, elbows on the table, face buried in his hands.

 

“My happiness doesn't matter,” he muttered through his hands. “I just want him to be happy. He loved her. I want him to be loved. He deserves to be loved. They all deserve to be loved. You deserve to be loved. Ja'an deserves to be loved. I got in the way of that. I'll get in the way for him, too.” Yixing's eyes stung and he pressed the palms of his hands harder to his forehead to hide himself more. “I don't deserve love or happiness. I'm just here to help people, that's all I'm good for is helping people. I'm just a good little helper...a good little helper...a...”

 

Yixing choked.

 

He choked and couldn't breath.

 

He use to help the neighbor's mom cook. She taught him how to clean. Ja'an taught him words that he had forced himself to learn and read because that was all she ever talked to him about. Minhee just gave him books. Books and books and books. Yixing was tired of books, tired of studying.

 

So tired.

 

“Yixing!”

 

Yixing could feel himself shaking. His face was cold. When did he get on the floor.

 

“P-pocket,” Yixing managed to mutter. “In...inhaler. Dad, ...my inhaler.”

 

There was a hand pressing at Yixing's side, material separating it from Yixing skin. Then there was cold plastic against his lips and Yixing felt the dreaded gas being forced into him. It took a few pumps, but the world started to make sense again.

 

“Yixing, are you alright? Do I need to call the FFPC?” the officer asked.

 

“SFPP, Dad,” Yixing corrected. His father's arms were wrapped around him, cradling him. Yixing settled in them. They were strong.

 

“Dad?” the officer said. “You say it so naturally.”

 

“I've never had a chance to call it before,” Yixing said and brought the inhaler to his lips once again. His stomach had already began making a fit. “I won't be able to move for a while.”

 

The officer moved one hand to Yixing's face and pushed his hair back, feeling his head and holding him tighter. “You can stay right here. I won't let you go until you say it's alright. Even then...you're a grown man now, but I want to hold my son.”

 

Yixing closed his eyes and leaned more into his father. It was warm and he had a scent Yixing could only associate with a father, coffee and an old under-appreciated hint of leather. He had only glimpsed this man a few times in his early childhood where memories were like dreams, always floating, never solid. He felt like a baby.

 

Yixing could not recall another time he had felt this way.

 

“Yixing, my boy. I want you to be happy. I want you to be loved. If he doesn't love you right, tell me, come see me. I'll open the door, I promise. I have almost thirty years worth of doors to open.”

 

Yixing felt something soft against his hair, there, then gone as light as a butterfly, but it brought him as much joy.

 

“Your dad's a cop, after all. I would love a chance to threaten a poor boy with that.”

 

Yixing chuckled. He questioned who had seen worse things under the reign of gunfire: his father or Zitao.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

Yixing arrived back at his apartment when the last of the sunlight had disappeared over the horizon on the following afternoon. He had stayed the night at his father's apartment and learned the police officer knew how to cook and how to clean. He had listened to the older man's job stories as well as his longest and only real relationship after Ja'an. When Zhang Ying left for work, Yixing took a cab and visited places he remembered going with Ja'an the times they did leave the house together. There was a park and a grocery store and a library. On the plane, Yixing slept, exhaustion washing over him. He still felt it in his bones as he unlocked the apartment door and stepped in.

 

It was quiet. On the coffee table, Yixing found a note from Luhan under a plate of cookies with blue and pink frosting and a sonogram. He had gone to Minseok to get a proper check up and printed pictures. The note said Luhan had bought too many cookies as part of his plan to tell Jongin about their little bundle of joy and so had left some for Yixing when he got back. Yixing texted Luhan then went to his room for a change of clothes. He felt like a warm shower would do him good.

 

Fifteen minutes later, Yixing stepped out of the bathroom towel drying his hair and heard his phone beeping in his room. He picked it up seeing Luhan's return message. He was with Jongin and wouldn't be home tonight. They were celebrating. Yixing smiled happy that the announcement had gone well. He didn't think Jongin a bad man even if he had sneaked out the mixed up briefcase. He had been honest about it to Luhan at least. Yixing wouldn't have been able to bear it if Luhan had been left to care for a child alone. Even worse, if the child had been left alone.

 

Yixing started to type in a happy reply when he heard scrambling from the other side of the apartment. He put the phone down and quietly dug through his doctor tools pulling out a scalpel before leaving his room. The sound had come from Luhan's side. He knew where his roommate was, he had just been talking to him and it couldn't be Jongin. He thought perhaps Zitao would sneak in, but he would have already made his presence known and he wouldn't be in Luhan's room of all places. Yixing opened the door quietly and peeked in. He didn't see anyone and opened the door wider. Still no one, but the window by Luhan's bed was opened and Yixing could see a long plastic tube on the bed falling over to the side Yixing couldn't see. He walked steadily towards the other side of the bed and he dropped the scalpel as he moved to kneel beside a groaning figure on the floor.

 

“Jongdae, Jongdae, wake up!” Yixing called pulling the pizzeria owner into his arms and patting his face. Jongdae was in a hospital robe, the tubes of one of his IVs cut, the other pulled right out. He had cuts and bruises on his body and sweat covering his face.

 

“Yi...xing,” Jongdae groaned and opened his eyes looking up at Yixing. “Yixing, I know...I know what they want.”

 

“Jongdae, what happened? You're suppose to be in the hospital. Baekhyun should be watching you, where is he?” Yixing asked.

 

The pizzeria owner licked his lips and shook his head. “We went for a walk outside during his break. They attacked us. Baekhyun lit up, told me...told me to run. I should have stayed. I don't know if he's okay, but I remembered. I remembered because he lit up.”

 

Yixing helped Jongdae stand then led him into the living room. “I'll get you water to calm down. Tell me first and then we'll find Baekhyun.”

 

Jongdae settled on the floor holding his head and groaning. Yixing hurried with the water and came to sit beside him.

 

“What did you remember, Jongdae?”

 

“Aliens, I remember aliens. I sold drugs for them. I thought it was a joke. The stuff didn't do anything. When I was in college I would sell it at parties. It was suppose to make them stronger, make them live longer. Layanichal it was called. I met Baekhyun...fuck, I met Baekhyun...I fucked him. We had sex and he lit up and at the end he hurt me and then the men in the black came. I have to check on Baekhyun.”

 

“Layanichal? Do you know anything else about the drug?” Yixing asked.

 

Jongdae shook his head. “There was a person with a shaved head and green tinted skin with them. They had tattoos all over their body, but they were like math equations in a different language. They let the boss fuck them. They weren't a girl, but they weren't a guy either. They were the one that made the drug. They usually had bandages somewhere on their body. When the men in the black came, I forgot all of that.”

 

“Who was the boss?” Yixing asked and put the glass of water in Jongdae's hands.

 

Jongdae lifted it to his lips and drank slowly, pulling it away to wince and touch part of his head. “An...Arbok? No, that's a pokemon...Cobra?”

 

“Arbokian?” Yixing asked.

 

“Arbokian, yes, but they were a hybrid. I didn't understand, but that's why they called him. When someone was mad at him, they would call his mother a hybrid whore then threaten to call the princess. I didn't understand any of it. There was a pretty one with horns that I was fucking so I didn't care as long as her and her friends laid with me. She wasn't a girl though, not really. I had seen Baekhyun around before and wanted him, but I thought he was normal. I thought I was cool if I had a human lover then alien orgies on the side. I thought I was cool, but I was just cruel.” Jongdae rubbed his head harder. “It hurts to remember it.”

 

“Layanichal, can you tell me more about it?” Yixing asked.

 

Jongdae furrowed his brows. “What's Layanichal?”

 

Yixing sighed and pushed Jongdae down to lay across the couch. “Thank you, Jongdae, you don't have to try and remember anymore. Just rest and I'll find Baekhyun.”

 

Jongdae reached out. “Baekhyun, he saved me. He's an alien, but he saved me. He's a good alien, though, right? He's not like the guys that attacked me in my restaurant or those dogs. He's not like the guys that poked at my head in that weird place with all the white, right? I love him.”

 

Yixing frowned more and looked away. “He loves you, too. He's not like them.”

 

Quickly, Yixing raced to his room and picked up his phone dialing. He was surprised to hear the voice on the other line.

 

“Yixing?”

 

“Minseok? Where's Baekhyun?”

 

“Sleeping. I had to put him under or else he would have run and opened his wounds again,” Minseok said.

 

“Is it bad?” Yixing asked.

 

“He'll be fine, but he really wanted to run and find Jongdae. Where is Jongdae? Did you find him? How did you know to call?” Minseok asked.

 

“Jongdae found me. He climbed the fire escape. It's close to Luhan's window. Can you get Yifan to come to my apartment. Luhan's with Jongin. I need someone to watch over Jongdae while I go take care of some SFPP stuff,” Yixing said.

 

“I called him to come here, but I can send Yifan your way instead. He should be close by. I know there wasn't anything actually wrong with Baekhyun's boyfriend, so why has he been in the hospital for so long?” Minseok asked.

 

“For protection,” Yixing said. “Just make sure to keep an eye out around that place. If the SFPP come, you don't know anything, alright?”

 

“I guess if you say I don't then I don't. I know you.”

 

“Yes you do, and that's all you have to tell them,” Yixing said. “Make sure Baekhyun heals properly.”

 

“Will do.”

 

Yixing hung up and walked back into the living room and studied Jongdae. He had fallen asleep. It was hard to believe the charming pizzeria owner had been a rebel when he was younger. Baekhyun had been so in love with him. A drug dealer for Arbokian hybrids? Layanichal.

 

Layanichal?

 

Yixing hurried to his room again and pulled out the sheet that had come with the medicine he was to deliver. Most of the prescription was written in Layan, but Layan was said different in Layan. If he translated that into an Earthling common tongue it could be Layanichal. No, it was. Yixing didn't have a great grasp of Latin, Greek, or Gaelic based words, but Layanichal would definitely be how doctors would refer to it. The alien with the tattoos and bandages must have been a Layan or a Layan hybrid. This was a regenerative drug. Ja'an's research team's pride and joy. A drug made from Layans themselves. They were trying to keep the fortuneteller man alive because he knew how to use the strips of time travelling paper and the hybrid rebels, what could they be planning with their own version of a walking health potion? No, this was just a small taste of the health potion, the actually thing was already walking around and Yixing was one.

 

There was a knock on the door and Yixing hurried to answer it expecting Yifan had been closer than Minseok had made it seem.

 

It was Kyungsoo.

 

Junmyeon's fiance stood outside Yixing's door with wide eyes decked out in black and holding a black briefcase with a shaky hand. He looked up at Yixing, not with the small bit of annoyance Yixing was use to, but with fear.

 

“Did something happen with Junmyeon?” Yixing asked feeling his chest squeeze.

 

“No,” Yixing said, “I wouldn't come to you for that. My partner, he's been captured.”

 

“Your partner?”

 

Kyungsoo nodded and his scared eyes turned stern. “My partner and yours. You must come with me, now.”

 

Everything in Yixing's body fell to the pit of his stomach and his eyes widened. His partner. His lover.

  
Zitao.


	17. I Came For You

**17\. I Came For You**

 

    It was fifteen minutes before they could leave. Yixing would have left the moment Kyungsoo showed up at his door if it wasn't for the injured and sleeping Jongdae on his couch. He felt antsy waiting for Yifan to arrive and he could tell Kyungsoo wasn't too happy about the wait either. Yixing didn't tell Yifan much. The Dracos was confused enough as it was and he didn't need Yifan running to his lover when the person he needed to protect was someone he barely knew. He just gave Yifan instructions not to open the doors and locked both bedrooms encase anyone came after Jongdae from the only windows in the apartment.

 

“We need to hurry,” Kyungsoo said. “I can't have the managers telling me not to do this or else I'll be going against the rules.”

 

Yixing frowned as he followed Kyungsoo to the lower level of his apartment building and to a back room. “You weren't told to go after them?”

 

“Of course I wasn't,” Kyungsoo said. “Chanyeol and Sehun got the report. Chanyeol can't keep his mouth shut and Sehun doesn't like to do more work than he needs to. They told me everything. My partner and Agent ZT were on a team building exercise that correlated to the operations they have been working on concerning the Arbokian hybrid rebel group. The data you brought back from Arachnia Prime had spyware attached and it corrupted part of our system. When Agent ZT and my partner were headed back, they were redirected elsewhere. However, since the redirecting came from our ports, their whereabouts were easy enough to find.”

 

“Is your partner very important to you?” Yixing asked.

 

Kyungsoo glanced at Yixing then pulled out a microchip from his pocket and placed it on the wall squinting at it. He brought out a needle and poked around at the chip. “Yes. Your feelings for Junmyeon are the same as my feelings for my partner. You understand.”

 

“You have Junmyeon,” Yixing said.

 

“I didn't always have Junmyeon just like you didn't always have Agent ZT,” Kyungsoo said. “Yet, Junmyeon is still special to you.”

 

That was true. His infatuation with Junmyeon wasn't as strong since Zitao had bumped into him, but he would still do as Kyungsoo was if Junmyeon as in danger.

 

“Besides, it's my fault he's in danger now. I decided to leave and put him with Agent ZT.” Kyungsoo finally stopped fiddling with the microchip and moved away. “Your boyfriend, Dr. Zhang, is nothing but trouble.”

 

Yixing frowned. “I don't believe that. I've caused him so much trouble.”

 

Kyungsoo pressed a finger to the chip and a portal appeared. “I won't argue with that. Perhaps that's why you two get along.”

 

“Where does the portal go?” Yixing asked. He wasn't familiar with the markings around the wormhole.

 

“Arbokia,” Kyungsoo said then pulled out pieces of a sniper rifle and a strap of bullets. “Put it together and follow me.”

 

Yixing watched Kyungsoo walk through the portal then look down at the gun pieces. His hands knew better than his mind how to put them together and he strapped himself in before following suit.

 

Arbokia was a desolate place. Not barren, but empty. There were many buildings crumbled and decayed. Yixing caught sight of one Crownoid scavenging a few meters in front of them, but it immediately ran upon seeing them. Arbokia wasn't home to Crownoids, but they could survive on the lower levels of oxygen and the smog pollution that was still heavy enough to keep out UV rays from when the planet thrived. As for humanoid beings, Yixing saw none close by.

 

“Here, take these and follow me,” Kyungsoo said handing Yixing more equipment. “I don't have a lot so be careful. I'll give you a portal in case we get split up. I want you to stay high while I stay low. I fight a bit different than Agent Z.T. Don't be surprised if there's blood.”

 

“I've never thought you harmless,” Yixing said and followed Kyungsoo between crumbled buildings. Occasionally, he caught a glimpse of a potential family high up in the buildings and then they were gone again. In the middle of the city they were stalking was a mansion not quite as badly hit as the rest of the land, but the white metal of the building had a green tint to it and there were bends in the taller towers. Most cities in Arbokia were like this, Yixing knew from studies. Only the capital where the queen sat had been renovated after the initial decline of the Arbokian reign. Most pure blood survivors lived there. Out here were hybrids and the lowest of the low class citizens leftover from the war moving farther and farther from the capital in search of food and life.

 

“We'll climb that building and jump,” Kyungsoo said pointing to a bending skyscraper next to the mansion. “There are guards walking around so we can't enter from the sides.”

 

Yixing did notice the Arbokian guards. Their heads were shaved to the point where the ridges on their foreheads could be seen and a crest was burned onto each ridge to dictate their rank in the military. Their outfits were thick and flamboyant in style, but dark in color. Their shoulders had shields and their shields had shields. These were not guards meant for quick work, they were guards meant to withstand and assault. The MIB were stealth workers, Yixing had come to understand. The SFPP was the one with an army. Kyungsoo's plan made sense.

 

Climbing the building was difficult. Yixing wasn't use to it and Kyungsoo often stopped to glare at Yixing as he waited for the doctor to catch up. When they were finally high enough, Kyungsoo pulled out a sheet of hastily drawn on paper. “We're jumping onto this veranda then walking along this edge to this window. From there we'll go inside. My partner has a distress microphone. From what I gathered listening to him, they are in a torture area in the dungeons.” Kyungsoo pointed at a spot on the drawing. “This is where I last know my partner to be. Do you understand?”

 

Yixing nodded. “What about Z.T?”

 

Kyungsoo rolled the paper back up. “I don't know. I have no way of finding him without getting in trouble, but I assume he's close by. I did hear a second set of screams. He's probably the one they wanted.”

 

“Why? Is it because of the data?” Yixing asked.

 

Kyungsoo shook his head. “I have no idea, but I know Z.T is important. He started out training for the SFPP. Sehun, Chanyeol, myself, and my partner all joined the MIB first. They usually recruit via accidental encounters with the less friendly. Agent Kai is a royal and has trained under the SFPP since young. Z.T was also young when he started training, but I don't know what made him transfer to a special force like the MIB other than the fact he is an Earthling and most agents are.”

 

Yixing thought he had a clue, but he didn't understand what Zitao's involvement with a hybrid princess would have to do with this rebel group.

 

Yixing found he was much more nimble than he initially thought. He landed beside Kyungsoo on the mentioned balcony with hardly any impact to his legs and walked the ledge without any dizziness. As Kyungsoo had ordered, Yixing kept high, following the other down steps at a distance to where he could always see a different direction than Kyungsoo. There were guards stationed at least one a hall, but they moved like clockwork. Eventually, they found a back way down, just smudged metal stairs that led in a spiraling case straight down. It was when the air got dense and they could hear groans that Kyungsoo held up a hand and pulled out a short sword in one hand a sort of dart gun in the other.

 

There was a door, heavy and locked. Three guards stood in front of it, two on each side of the door and one in front of them speaking. Kyungsoo turned and made a few motions with his hands. Yixing nodded. He thought he understood. He took a few steps back and positioned his sniper rifle on the railing out of eyesight of the guards, but enough to where he could see the guard on the left side of the door. Kyungsoo moved into a low crouch and stayed by the wall. He held up three fingers then rushed forward. Yixing counted to three then shot at the guard. The bullet went straight through one of the ridges of the guard's head and stuck. He fell in a lump onto the ground. Yixing sighed in relief when he realized the bullets he had been given were tranquilizer. He had screwed up in surgeries before, but not for a long time. The point of his job was to save lives. Kyungsoo had no problems with doing the opposite. Distracted by their comrade's sudden fall, Kyungsoo shot his small gun first. A handful of needles shot out and into the other guard at the door. They stuck into his skin and then hissed with little volts of electricity. The guard talking to them turned around only to get Kyungsoo's short knife stabbed through their abdomen. Kyungsoo turned and beckoned Yixing forward.

 

“I told you not to be squeamish,” Kyungsoo said and lifted up the talking guard's left arm, cutting it off. He held the hand against the lock on the door and it opened. “I'll go first. If the door closes, you have two more guards.”

 

Yixing looked at the other two guards on the floor, one electrocuted, the other asleep, and felt his chest tightened. He wasn't here to feel bad, though, he was here to save Zitao.

 

Yixing followed.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

The door led to a dungeon warehouse piled high with crates and cages. In some cages were smaller animals, but in others, Yixing could make out the signs of much larger captures – strips of torn clothing, blood rusted on iron bars, tufts of fur stuck to cuffs. Kyungsoo tiptoed around the crates and Yixing stayed back. He couldn't hear any voices, but the walls were tall, a second story and a third. Yixing considered going up, but he heard a groan to his left and walked over to it. Kyungsoo noticed his movements and followed. There was a man in one of the cages tied up and gagged. He wore loose black clothing and a headpiece that had been dismantled. Yixing tugged on the cage, but it didn't open. The man's eyes did. They looked at Yixing then over at Kyungsoo and widened. He started groaning more.

 

“Agent O,” Kyungsoo gasped and pushed Yixing aside to try and open the lock himself. He ended up using his taser gun to short circuit the mechanism and the door flew open. Kyungsoo rushed inside and pulled the gag out of the man's mouth. “Agent O, are you alright?”

 

The man nodded and smiled at Kyungsoo. “I should have known you would rescue us. You never did like to wait for orders.” He turned to look at Yixing and frowned. “You are?”

 

“Medic Lay,” Yixing said. “Are you...are you his partner.”

 

Agent O looked at Kyungsoo then nodded. “Agent D.O was my partner. Agent Z.T is my partner now.”

 

“Where is Agent Z.T?” Yixing asked.

 

“Don't worry about Z.T right now, help me get Agent O out of here,” Kyungsoo said.

 

“I have to worry about Z.T,” Yixing said, eyes narrowing. “What if he was Junmyeon?”

 

Kyungsoo's body tightened then relaxed. “O, where is Z.T?”

 

“In another cage close to the doors at the other end of this room. They keep coming in and out and messing with him.”

 

“Why?” Yixing asked.

 

“I don't know, but he screams a lot. We were just trying to figure out how to work together and then we ended up outside this mansion. All mansions are suppose to be watched. The SFPP tries not to be too involved on Arbokia, but there should be more people online with the SFPP than with the rebels. It must be someone in the royal family. A pureblood must be funding it.”

 

Kyungsoo finished getting his partner free. “Where is your equipment?”

 

“They took it all. It's probably in this room, though. We haven't been here long. I'm sure they're setting up for the SFPP's arrival. They won't take well once the MIB reports their missing soldier. I knew it wasn't a good idea to team up with Z.T, but I'm good backup,” complained Agent O.

 

Yixing frowned. Kyungsoo had said Zitao was trouble and now even his new partner was having regrets. Yixing didn't understand why it was Zitao they wanted. Was it because he was the one constantly getting in their way? “I'm going to look for Z.T.”

 

Yixing scrambled over crates and boxes looking around for any sign of his boyfriend. He didn't hear him, but he glimpsed fresh dots of blood leading a trail to a cage. Zitao was in it. He laid on his side, eyes closed, breathing silently through his mouth. There was blood at the corner of his lips and blood running down his face. Yixing started messing with the lock until he finally tricked it into opening then slipped inside and fell to his knees beside Zitao. He reached a hand out and brushed Zitao's bangs from his face. The blood was mostly coming from his left ear where most of his many piercings had been ripped out. Yixing moved a shaky hand to cover Zitao's ear, but it was grabbed.

 

“Don't bother, Yixing,” came Zitao's groggy voice.

 

Yixing turned his hand so he was holding Zitao's and lowered his head over his lover's. “I came for you.”

 

Zitao squeezed Yixing's hand. “Thank you. Do you have a plan to get out?”

 

Yixing shook his head. “Agent D.O brought me.”

 

“Your friend's fiance?” Zitao asked. “I knew he was MIB. Did he find Agent O?”

 

Yixing nodded and and started to look over the rest of Zitao. “Why did they do this to you?”

 

Zitao shifted and started to push himself off the floor. He wasn't tied up like Agent O, but Yixing could tell why. Zitao wasn't in good shape. “I may have not explained everything about my time before I joined the MIB.” He touched along his bleeding earlobes and sighed. “They took it.”

 

“Took what?” Yixing asked.

 

“The pocket dimension in my earring,” Zitao said. “I was given an earring by the SFPP. I was very good at being a soldier and they saw my interest in intelligence and spy work so they intrusted me with an earring. Occasionally, they would tell me to take it out and give me a fancier earring then exchange it again. I learned later that they were storing information in a machine within that pocket dimension, information concerning time traveling and other findings they deemed too messy to continue with. I've had that earring since I was eighteen.”

 

“That's why they brought you here?” Yixing asked.

 

Suddenly, a door opened close by.

 

“That's why she brought me here,” Zitao hissed. “Hide.”

 

Yixing didn't want to, but he felt himself moving at Zitao's command. He slipped behind some crates just as a group of Arbokian soldier appeared at Zitao's cage. They noticed the door opened and immediately fell onto Zitao, grabbing his arms and holding him in place. Heels started clinking on the metal floor of the dungeon warehouse and then a woman came into view walking into Zitao's cage. Her clothes were silver and tight, but the plates that stuck out from it were similar to how the ball gowns the Arbokian princessrs at the party had their dresses fall. Her hair was tied up in a long ponytail, black with an oil spill shine to it, but shaved where her ridges were. They were small and barely noticeable, but they made a crown about her head and had been pierced as a sign of royalty. Her face was beautiful and familiar to Yixing though he had only seen it once in a dream of a past.

 

“Hello, Tao. Are you ready to come with us now and help us open that pretty earring of yours?” the woman asked. “Or do we have to resort to pulling things off that other Earthling as well?”

 

Zitao growled then suddenly spit blood at the woman. “Fuck you, princess.”

 

The woman looked astonished at first then offended. She wiped the spit off her face with a wrinkled nose and wiped it off on one of the guards. “You've become a disgusting little thing. You did have such a dirty mouth when we dated. It was a turn on for someone so young and naïve, but then I learned where my place was and that is above little bugs like you.” The woman turned and walked out of the cage. “Bring him. And bring the little fly buzzing about the crates. We can't have him opening more locks.”

 

It took a moment before Yixing realized who they were talking about. He felt brawny arms suddenly grab him and he was dragged after Zitao. They hadn't gone far enough in to notice Kyungsoo and Agent O or to see their guards on the other side were dead. Yixing took a moment to look around as he was dragged. There was something in Agent O's cage, perhaps it looked like a body if not focused on, but there was no sign of Kyungsoo.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

They were dragged up long winding stairs and into a large room with a platform at the end that housed a glamorous chair that glowed with a liquid light source intertwined with the white metal. Zitao's ex-girlfriend walked up to it and took a seat. Two guards in heavier armor than the ones holding Yixing and Zitao came to stand beside the princess pulling masked and drugged Shades with them on chains. The weren't the same Shades as had been in Zitao's memory. When she was settled on her throne, the princess lifted a hand and the guards holding Zitao dragged him to the foot of the princess' throne and threw him down at her feet.

 

“Now, if this isn't a familiar sight,” the princess said. “Once again, you're all bloodied up at my feet. You really should learn to stop coming after me.”

 

Zitao pushed himself up and glared at the princess. “I didn't come after you. You're the one who tracked me down and dragged me here.”

 

The princess wrinkled her nose in disgust. “You think I dragged you? No, I'm just here to make you talk, Tao. We have that precious earring of yours, now tell us how to enter the pocket dimension.”

 

“I don't know,” Zitao said.

 

“You don't know or you won't tell us?” the princess asked.

 

“I don't know,” Zitao repeated.

 

The princess shot a look to the guards holding Yixing. Suddenly, he felt something cold against his left ear. Then pain. The guards let him go and he crumpled onto the ground and held a hand to his ear. He didn't mean to, but the sudden pain made him unconsciously heal himself. His hand melted against his face. It was a few seconds before he could pull it away, both his ear and his palm red and raw. He looked up to see the princess looking at him curiously.

 

“So your savior was a Layan?” the princess said. “Then torturing him won't be any fun.” She made another signal and suddenly there was a needle pressed into his skin. The liquid stung, but it wasn't the first time someone had tried to force Yixing's form change. The thing was, Yixing only had one form.

 

“Hybrid?” the princess smiled and turned back to Zitao. “We'll keep torturing him until you agree to show us.”

 

Yixing had never seen Zitao so angry before. He glared at the woman before him, a beautiful princess, a person he once loved, as if she was a stranger who had chosen the wrong victim. “Don't you dare touch him again.”

 

“Why? Does he mean so much to you?” the princess asked. “Surely, you can't care for a partner that much. You'll definitely tell us how to use that earring before we kill him.”

 

The guards dragged Yixing again and pulled him up so he was beside Zitao then they sliced a knife along his arm. Yixing hissed, but didn't move his hands to heal to cut.

 

The princess studied Yixing. “So you're a Layan hybrid? When I become queen, I could use you. I could make you head of our science division. We plan to do intensive research in Layan medical practices.”

 

“Layanichal,” Yixing muttered. “You want me to make Layanichal.”

 

“How do you know of that?” the princess asked.

 

“Your hybrids on earth, that's what they're testing for you guys. You're trying to make medicine out of Layans themselves just like you made pets out of Shades. Layans aren't plants. You can't mass produce them for your own needs. And you're hybrids. You would be turning on your own people,” Yixing said, voice growing louder and louder. Was this really the woman Zitao use to love? He said he had lost her, but here she was spitting such ugly words.

 

Suddenly, there was a heel in Yixing's face and he was kicked aside hard landing against Zitao. Zitao immediately pulled him into his arms and held him close.

 

“You little Earthling hybrids know nothing about what it means to be a hybrid. We are stronger. We are smarter. We have more options available to us. We should have the freedom to choose where we go in this world. My own aunt refuses to acknowledge me as an heir, but she is just a pawn for the SFPP as are her two daughters. They're just twittering ornaments who are willing to be married off to whoever they want. An Arbokian general more than likely. I do not want for such a thing. I will be a powerful queen and make my own choices. The rebel group agrees with me. They want me as their queen.”

 

Yixing pushed away from Zitao. Who was this woman to say he knew nothing of the hardships of a hybrid. “You know nothing! From what I can tell, you're just a princess who ran away from home and now you want to make your family suffer. I may not love those who took care of me, but I would never hurt them. You're planning to hurt them. I won't let you.”

 

“And how would you stop me? You're just a weak Layan.” The princess reached out, anger in her eyes.

 

Zitao slapped her hand away and growled. “Don't you dare touch him again, Jess. I overlooked it the first time, I won't overlook it again.”

 

The princess clicked her tongue and leaned back in her seat. “I never planned to make you my mate, Tao. Don't think your words have any influence over me.”

 

“I know they don't,” Zitao said. There was a ghost in his eyes. He had tried to convince this woman more times than she would ever know.

 

“You were fun, but your hate is unwarranted. Did you really love me so much? I would have ended it sooner, but then I found out who you were. All that time, I was so close to the pocket dimension, I could have just slipped it away with me teeth. Too bad I was found out before I realized it.”

 

Zitao lowered his head, but he still held Yixing to him. “There's no reason to bring up a past better left unspoken. I'm not here as your lover, I'm here because you brought me here.”

 

“But, aren't you interested in becoming my lover again? I could make you great once I'm queen. You weren't worth it back then, just a boy who followed orders, but now you're a man. I can see how you've grown, hard and rough around the edges, but you're still kind aren't you? Aren't you a little curious how I've matured?”

 

“No,” came Zitao’s quick reply. “The Jess I loved is not the one I met all those years ago sitting on that throne nor the one before me. She never really existed. She was meant to be fleeting. They're just memories. You can't use them against me now.”

 

“Oh, but can't I? Why else are you still working on Arbokian cases, still carrying around that earring?” she asked. “You want something, I can give it to you. Deep down you still love me like the stupid boy you were.”

 

“I loved a you that wasn't you. I love someone else more, a selfless idiot that works too much. I’m not interested in spited princesses,” Zitao's eyes glanced over at Yixing.

 

Love? Yixing felt warm, but he didn't have time to think about Zitao's words when arms suddenly grabbed him and then there was cold metal in his shoulder. Zitao rushed forward and suddenly had the princess in a choke hold, rings on one hand barring small blades against her neck.

 

“I said not to lay hands on him again,” Zitao growled. “You brought me here. I have no orders not to kill you. I will if you hurt him again.”

 

The princess chuckled. “I doubt you could.”

 

“Then your feelings have lasted longer than mine.” He punched the rings into her skin. They were very long. Had he raked them across her throat, he could have killed her, but they were just puncture wounds for now. The guards set the Shades loose and suddenly Zitao was on the ground fighting them off.

 

“Zitao!” Yixing screamed and fought against the men holding him back. His shoulder hurt, but he was healing even without needing to touch his own skin. He made sure it went slow if he got a more serious injury, he wouldn't be able to fix Zitao without fainting.

 

The princess stood, shock on her face. She touched her neck and pulled her hand back to see blood. She narrowed her eyes. “Back!”

 

The Shades jumped away from Zitao and went to circle around the princess' feet. They growled when the guards came to retrieve them. The princess walked up to Zitao's form now even more beaten than before. She kicked his side and he coughed up blood.

 

“So very familiar, isn't it? Why don't you beg me to come back with you? To run away with you? Shall I have them dump you in the ocean again? Good thing you didn't drown. I should have known it was an earring. You had so many of them it would be easy enough to hide it there. Do you know when I decided to join the rebel group? They told me what you were soon after dating, but I went to them to get rid of something you had put in me.”

 

Zitao groaned.

 

“What was that? Do you hate me even more now? I couldn't possibly carry a child that was hardly Arbokian. Hybrids are stronger, but Earthlings weak. I couldn't have a weak child. They got rid of it and that was when I really started seducing you. Don't you just hate me?”

 

“It was...your...choice,” Zitao groaned and started lifting himself up. “I just want to...I want to stop the rebels. I want to do my job.”

 

“You mean you want to stop me,” the princess said.

 

“No,” Zitao said and he finally managed to get on his feet. The guards shifted ready to come at him again if he made the wrong move. “You're just in the way, Hybrid Princess Jess ‘Ica Gomes, fifth in line for the throne of Arbokia.”

 

The princess didn't seem to take well to being addressed fully by her title. “I have waited so long to meet you again on the battlefield.”

 

“This isn't a field,” Zitao said.

 

The princess held a hand out to one of her guards. “Give me your knife.”

 

They handed it to her and she approached Yixing again. “Then if I kill this one, will you hate me?”

 

“Don't touch him,” Zitao growled again.

 

Worthless. Yixing felt worthless as he watched the princess approach him with the knife in hand. He couldn't do anything. He had no weapon he could reach and use at this close of range and he couldn't help the staggering Zitao. Kyungsoo was right when he told Yixing he should quit. All he could do was heal. The princess stepped closer and closer. She lifted her hand with the knife in it.

 

She fell to the ground.

 

Yixing's eyes widened seeing the princess on the ground unmoving except for her chest which took in slow shallow breaths. The guards immediately released the Shades at Zitao, but they also took one leap before falling to the floor paralyzed. On their flanks were gashes from Zitao's rings.

 

Poison.

 

Before any other guards could retaliate there were gunshots from above. Yixing looked up to see Agent O with a large machine gun set up on one of the windows in the large hall shooting off a mix of bullets and smoke bombs. The smoke gave cover to a blade brandishing Kyungsoo who moved quickly through it. Yixing felt the men holding him suddenly be pulled off and then and arm around his waist pulling him away.

 

“We have to go now,” Zitao said. “Agent D.O brought me my stuff. They'll escape later.”

 

Yixing couldn't quite comprehend what was happening. They were pulled back down a flight of stairs. It was empty, but Yixing could hear footsteps starting up them. Zitao stopped at the midway point and pulled out a chip putting it against the wall. It activated instantly.

 

“Come,” Zitao said. “We're too wounded to stay and help.”

 

Yixing nodded and followed Zitao inside. If Kyungsoo said they would get out, they would get out. Junmyeon would be sad if he didn't.

 

They landed in the MIB headquarters. Immediately, other agents were on them, asking them questions. Zitao leaned against Yixing. He felt hot. Yixing didn't feel so well, either, but he wrapped his arms around as Zitao gave into his exhaustion.


	18. I Trust You

**18\. I Trust You**

 

At Zitao's apartment, they were greeted with a happy ball of white fluff. Kandy wagged her back end and wiggled about their feet as Yixing helped Zitao into the apartment. He was still a bit off his feet from all the medication the medics at the headquarters had choked him full of. Yixing had offered to help with the healing, but had been denied when his own injuries had become apparent.

 

“Hello, Kandy,” Zitao greeted scooping the dog up and using the wall to walk to his bedroom leaving Yixing in the hallway.

 

Yixing let out a sigh when he was alone and pulled out his phone to text his friends that he was fine now. Yifan had texted to say Jongin had come over and fixed Jongdae up. He didn't remember anything that had to do with aliens, but perhaps that was the for the best. Baekhyun would have to be careful if he wanted to be with the restaurant owner. Kyungsoo had arrived at headquarters with Agent O right before Yixing and Zitao had left and Yixing had forced him to call Junmyeon as soon as he was patched up. He wondered how long it would be before Kyungsoo didn't remember any of this. That must have been the only reason he had not told Junmyeon. Yixing couldn't blame him. Junmyeon was an Earthling and so was Kyungsoo. Neither had to know.

 

Yixing walked to Zitao's kitchen and got a bottle of water and knocked on Zitao's bedroom door before entering. Zitao was relaxed on his mattress on the floor with Kandy asleep in his arms. Yixing walked over and handed him a water bottle. Zitao took it and offered the small dog in one hand to Yixing.

 

“Would you put her in the livingroom?”

 

Yixing cuddled the soft animal in his arms and left settling the dog softly into its bed. The puppy made a few whining sounds, but ultimately stayed asleep. Yixing took slow steps back to Zitao's bedroom taking in the whites and creams and woods of Zitao’s apartment. There were framed pictures of African wildlife as well as Bengal Tigers and a few of the pillows on the chairs were leopard printed. Yixing would guess Zitao had an interest in travelling. He knew the agent had wanted to go to California with his girlfriend and maybe the love for going to other places was half of why he had joined the SFPP and MIB in the first place.

 

“How are you feeling?” he asked once in ZItao’s bedroom. He walked over to the large mattress on the floor and stared down at Zitao and his bandages.

 

Zitao took a sip from his water bottle then sighed. “I'm fine, just sore. They gave me those pills.”

 

“Layanichal?” Yixing asked.

 

“Yes, are they really made from Layans?” Zitao asked. “I’ve heard about it, but I would never think someone would actually think about farming a species with human intelligence.”

 

“I'm not sure. I told the other agents what Jongdae had told me. I would have to ask Ja'an,” Yixing said.

 

“Ja'an Vich'ac? Is that the scientist that gave birth to you?” Zitao asked.

 

“You know of them?”

 

“They created the medicine's initial formula,” Zitao said. “Yixing, lay down with me.”

 

Yixing looked around the room. There was a clock on Zitao's radio. It was early morning. “I should go home.”

 

“Please, Yixing. I haven't seen you in almost a week and even then it has only been for work. We've barely been on a proper date,” Zitao said.

 

Yixing wanted to. He wanted to climb on the mattress with Zitao and melt into his arms, but he didn't know if he was allowed to. Was it a good idea? Zitao must have been distressed after meeting his ex-girlfriend from all those years ago.

 

Zitao reached out a hand and Yixing took it letting himself be pulled down on the mattress with Zitao. He pulled Yixing's head against his chest over his heart and sighed.

 

“Yixing, I love you.”

 

Yixing's body tensed at those words. Was Zitao still worked up on medication? “Zitao, you don't have to.”

 

Zitao wrapped an arm around Yixing and squeezed his arm. “I don't have to, no one has to, but don't tell me not to love you. I barely know you, but I want to. I'm not afraid to know you, Yixing. You're trustworthy.”

 

“I'm not, I'm just a doctor,” Yixing said. “I couldn't do anything for you in that situation”

 

“You came with Agent D.O to save me. You saved my life once already. You’ve done plenty for me in other situations. You’re the most trustworthy person I know, you waited in a storm for me. So, I want to ask if you care enough about me to wait a little longer.”

 

Yixing turned his head to look at Zitao. He was staring off to the side and Yixing could see the dark circles under his eyes darker than normal. “What's wrong?”

 

“I haven't been contacting you lately because I wasn't sure how to tell you. I have to leave for a few months. I've always known they were training me to be a big part of overcoming the rebel resistance, but they had to put it on hold because of Jongin quitting. They were going to give me a rookie, but since Agent D.O is quitting as well, that leaves Agent O open for a new partner and he's a good support character. I'll be on Arbokia for the next four to six months.”

 

Yixing's heart dropped to his stomach. “Oh, I...I understand if you can't be with me then. I don't want to hold you from your work. I know it's important that you get her back.”

 

“No! No you don't understand at all,” Zitao said. He shifted and suddenly he was pinning Yixing down, staring at him with dark eyes. “I don't want her back. This has nothing to do with her. I don't think I explained it well.”

 

“You don’t have to explain it,” Yixing said looking away. Of course Zitao would love someone more than him even if he couldn’t be with that person the same way. Everyone always loved something more than him.

 

“Look into my eyes, Yixing,” Zitao commanded.

 

Yixing closed his eyes.

 

Zitao grabbed his face, firmly, but not enough to bruise, and turned it back to face him. “Look at me!”

 

Yixing slowly opened his eyes. Zitao's eyes were so intense and so tired. They melted Yixing's chest and Yixing didn't want to melt. When Zitao left, he'd have to freeze up again. He wouldn't be the same.

 

“Zhang Yixing, I want this to work out between us, but I need you to wait for me, just for a little while. I'm not as hung up on that Arbokian princess as everyone seems to think I am. That was the past and she was someone different as was I. I was a stupid boy who wasted everyone's time. If I had gone back once more, I wouldn't have gone to her at all, but then the MIB wouldn't have chased been able to chase their resistance group off Earth. I've had other relationships since then, none as long or as serious, but I've had my heartbroken by others. This is my job, not any sort of revenge or salvation. I could care less what the MIB thinks they're doing with my feelings by sending me wherever they need me, but I need you to know I'll come back. I'll come back, I promise.”

 

Promises like that, who had ever made him such a promise? Yixing's eyes felt wet.

 

“Yixing,” Zitao's voice was soft, his hand loosening on Yixing's face, caressing his cheek instead. “Don't cry.”

 

“I...don't want to be left alone again,” Yixing said softly. He had finally met his father, but he couldn't bother the man often. He was all the way in China. Luhan was pregnant, he'd move in with Jongin and Yixing didn't think he could handle living with a baby with his his working hours, not that he wouldn't if Luhan asked. Even if Luhan said he loved Yixing, he loved his boyfriend and child more. Ja'an preferred her work. Minhee never loved him, she had just wanted to help Ja'an succeed.

 

But, Zitao said he loved him.

 

Zitao leaned down and kissed Yixing's face. “I'll come back. I promise. Can you trust me?”

 

Yixing sighed. “How long?”

 

“No later than spring,” Zitao said. His lips were at Yixing's neck, blowing soft air against his sensitive spots and Yixing shivered, heart skipping a beat. “When do you leave?”

 

“When you go back to work,” Zitao said softer than the touch of his lips.

 

Yixing moved a hand to Zitao's face. He held his chin and looked deep into those dark eyes. He had asked Yixing to trust him. He believed Zitao when he said he wasn't hung up about the princess, he did even if he pretended he didn’t. Bitter, yes, distrustful, yes, but not because he was still in love with her. He would have killed her if she'd let anything more happen to Yixing. Zitao had only held back from slitting her throat with his rings because she was a princess and there were guards around. He'd still poisoned her. He wasn't helpless. And Yixing, he wasn't made for that work, but he had proved himself a good doctor. He needed to go back to just being a doctor. He pulled Zitao's face towards his own. They met in a kiss, slow and soft at first and then heated.

 

“Yixing,” Zitao moaned pulling away. His face was so full of feelings. Yixing had never seen someone so sincere. Zitao loved him. They were words said much too soon and they might falter later, but in this moment they were truer than anything Yixing had ever known.

 

Shooting stars couldn’t carry wishes. They were just rocks and ice that got too hot. Birthday candles melted and burned just the same. And marbles were easy to lose. Yixing had never bothered wishing on anything. But, if he was true to himself, there was one thing Yixing wished he could wish for.

 

All Yixing wanted was to be loved unconditionally.

 

Yixing stared up at Zitao with half lidded eyes before moving his hands to touch each of Zitao's bandages. He didn't make a sound as Yixing pressed his fingers against them, healed up already from the medicine. Yixing moved his hands lower and tugged up on Zitao's loose tank top he had been given to put over his chest before they'd arrived at the apartment. Zitao sat up and grabbed the fabric ripping it off over his head and leaned back down over Yixing. His chest was moving up and down quickly and Yixing moved a hand to trail down the thin splay of dark hair on Zitao's chest down to his belly then over one side to hold the other by the small of his back.

 

Zitao leaned down further. He ran a finger under Yixing's eyes. This close, he was a little blurry without Yixing's glasses, but Yixing knew what he looked like. He squinted and felt a kiss on his one eye than the other. Kisses along his jaw then down his neck sucking and blowing air against the sensitive spots of his neck. Zitao's hands moved to Yixing's top, pulling it off and the kisses continued lower. Zitao marked Yixing's collar with teeth and gentle sucks. He licked Yixing's nipples until they peaked hard and felt cold and wet in the air. He bit at Yixing's abs making Yixing's stomach convulse and a laugh escaped him followed by a laugh from Zitao.

 

Zitao sat up and looked down at Yixing grinning. Yixing felt himself smiling back. Zitao reached a hand out and traced Yixing's face, a finger digging into Yixing's dimple. He hadn't realized he was smiling that much. Zitao leaned down and they kissed again, tongues intertwining and Yixing moved his hands into Zitao's hair as the other began to undo Yixing's pants. His hand was warm and reminded Yixing of the time in the alley by the club, exciting and sudden. Attraction was something Yixing couldn't deny was between them from the very beginning. Had Zitao been too kind to him in the subway? A drunk doctor who had just gotten in the way, a doctor that was more trouble than he had seemed. Zitao had seemed like trouble from the very beginning, but Yixing hadn't become a doctor without knowing their would be hardships involved and he was already use to it in his personal life.

 

He didn't want to be alone anymore, though.

 

Zitao's lips moved from Yixing's and trailed down his body again until they were on Yixing's member. Yixing sat up a bit watching Zitao take him into his mouth and bob up and down. He did it gently, not as if he was trying for a quick end or trying to make it an amazing experience, but it was still amazing in a sweet tingly way. Yixing reached out and touched Zitao's head, ran down and touched the wounds on his ear where most of his earrings had been ripped out. Zitao removed his mouth and backed up on the mattress taking Yixing's pants and underwear with him so that Yixing was naked on his bed. Yixing laid back down and took a deep breath as Zitao fumbled at the edge of his bed. When he returned, it was with his face between Yixing's legs and a tongue licking his entrance. Yixing's eyes widened and he covered his mouth to keep from making sounds. The puppy might wake up if he was too loud, but...but...Zitao was making him feel good and he should know.

 

“Z-Zitao...mnh,” Yixing moaned and widened his legs.

 

Zitao removed his face and slipped coated fingers into Yixing scissoring him open and staring down at him. His stare, it was so intense, but it softened up every now and then and made Yixing want to reach out and touch him. He didn't. He didn't have the strength. Zitao's fingers remembered the places they needed to touch and Yixing could see himself leaking from the tip of his hardened member. He closed his eyes only opening them when Zitao's fingers disappeared.

 

Again, Zitao was digging under the mattress muttering something beneath his breath.

 

Condom.

 

Yixing laughed. He sat up and touched Zitao's back lightly leaning in to kiss his shoulder. Zitao turned to look at him. His face was red, but not so much from their activities, but embarrassment.

 

“I'll be a moment,” Zitao said. “They're still in he bathroom.”

 

Yixing laughed again and moved closer to Zitao putting his head on Zitao's shoulder. “You don't need it.”

 

“Yixing?”

 

Yixing moved closer until he was in Zitao's lap, head pressed against Zitao's and he looked into the other's eyes. “You're coming back aren't you?”

 

“Yes,” Zitao replied.

 

“And you love me?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Yixing pressed their noses together then moved his head away, hands coming to cup Zitao's face. “Then, I trust you. I trust you, Zitao. You'll come back.”

 

Zitao lifted a hand to one of Yixing's and brought the palm to his lips, kissing it. Yixing took his hands away and moved them to Zitao's lap undoing the other's pants and they worked together to push them down enough for Zitao's member to spring free. Yixing remembered having it in his mouth and he remembered it sliding into him. He stroked it a few times before readjusting himself in Zitao's laps and lowered onto it. There was discomfort at first, but Zitao wrapped an arm around Yixing's waist and slowly rubbed his lower back at Yixing got settled. It didn't hurt and it didn't feel much different than when Zitao had used a condom, but there was something different, something raw and intimate. Maybe it was just the position with Yixing facing Zitao and in control. He stared into Zitao's face. He could see pleasure, but also patience as he kept himself still.

 

Yixing wrapped his arms around Zitao's neck and started to move. He thought he knew where his sweeter spots were, but it was always a long process when Yixing pleasured himself from the inside. Usually, he jacked off and was done with it, but he understood the pleasure of moving his hips and feeling it inside him. It wasn't a hot feeling on the outside that coursed into him, but one from his core that moved through him. Staring down at Zitao from his seated position, Yixing could see the pleasure doing the opposite to Zitao. There was a neediness in his hips that he tried to keep down. His back petting turned into into ass grabbing that let him go deeper into Yixing as he was spread further apart. And he hit against his prostate causing Yixing to falter in his control. Zitao took over flipping Yixing back down on the bed and he plowed into him with a sudden burst of need that had Yixing barely able to breath. It was sated after a few thrusts and Zitao grabbed one of Yixing's legs lifting it over his shoulder and moved slower, but deeper, grunting, tone higher pitched than a growl. The deeper overpowered feeling made Yixing moan and he didn't try and cover it up.

 

Zitao sounded prettier than he did, or so Yixing thought. His moans were generally lower, but they seemed to work on Zitao. He didn't try to kiss him to shut him up, but he did kiss him. He lowered Yixing's leg only to grab both Yixing's thighs and spread him wider, getting in closer and deeper and kissed the side of Yixing's mouth not letting Yixing turn his head before he was at his neck again. He was marking it and muttering stuff that Yixing couldn't understand. Half of it was Chinese and the other half Korean with English thrown in and Yixing couldn't bring himself to translate it all when pleasure was coursing through him and warmth, so much warmth. Zitao moved a hand to Yixing's member and stroked him until he released with a stuttered moan.

 

Yixing laid limp for a few seconds as Zitao continued to thrust and Yixing slowly moved his hips to ride off his own excess pleasure and bring Zitao to his end sooner. When he did, Yixing couldn't say it was a pleasant feeling, but there was something enjoyable to it. A sense of accomplishment that perhaps Ja'an had understood when Yixing had been created. At least in that moment, perhaps Yixing had been loved by his Layan parent.

 

Zitao pulled out and reached under his mattress again bringing out wipes and slipped his hand between Yixing's legs cleaning him off. He was gentle. Too gentle. He took care of Yixing too well in these situations. What would it be like in a longer relationship? They had barely dated, but Yixing wanted more of this.

 

“You should get a table to put beside your bed,” Yixing said.

 

Zitao wiped himself off and settled back down in bed holding one arm up invitingly. Yixing scooted closer and allowed himself to be pulled into Zitao. The agent moved so he was laying on top of Yixing, his head on Yixing's chest over his heart and one leg over both of the doctor's.

 

“I'll just get a podium for the mattress. Stick drawers in it. I've seen something like that in a magazine. I want a bigger bed anyways,” Zitao said.

 

Yixing lifted a hand up and ran it through Zitao's hair. “You don't really need a bigger bed.”

 

“I do,” Zitao said.

 

Yixing didn't argue. He understood Zitao had expensive tastes and he knew what an MIB's agent salary looked like.

 

“I need someone to watch Kandy for me while I'm gone,” Zitao said.

 

“Will you take her to your parents?” Yixing asked.

 

“They’re in China. Kandy is still a puppy. I don't want to make her travel so soon.”

 

“Do you have a friend?” Yixing asked.

 

“I have you,” Zitao replied and kissed Yixing's chest where his head lay. “Move in. I have two more rooms, just set up in one of them if you don't want to live like lovers. I'll pay you if you want, whatever makes you comfortable, but move in here. I know it's early, but I would have asked you eventually. I don't like to feel alone, either.”

 

Yixing frowned. Moving in with his boyfriend? It was too soon, but the place was big and Zitao would be leaving in only a couple weeks. And the dog, the small white puppy Yixing had sheltered from the rain needed him. And, he could give their apartment to Luhan and Jongin if Jongin didn't have a better place to raise a family. Luhan wouldn't have to worry about Yixing not being able to pay his rent. He didn't have to worry now. Yixing made plenty.

 

“I'll house sit for you while you're gone,” Yixing promised.

 

“I want you to stay even when I come back,” Zitao said.

 

“We'll see.”

 

Zitao sighed and kissed Yixing's chest again. “I do love you.”

 

Yixing wondered if Zitao could hear Yixing's heartbeat quicken where he was. He smiled at those words. Was he allowed to say them back?

 

“Y'all genis et g'all genis, fi'et,” Yixing said.

 

Zitao propped his head up and looked at Yixing. “What was that? Layan? What did you say?”

 

Yixing smiled and looked away removing his hand from Zitao's hair. “You promised to come back. I'll tell you then.”

 

Zitao wrinkled his nose and jutted his bottom lip out. It was cute and Yixing smiled.

 

“Fi'et,” Yixing repeated.

 

Forever.

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

The club was loud and filled with XDAs out celebrating one of their home planet's holidays. Yixing stood on the second floor staring down, leaning against the railing with his phone in one hand. Luhan had been texting him all night. Mainly, they were picture texts of little Taeyong, his and Jongin's son. He was a pretty little thing and Yixing didn't mind the pictures of the baby with its white fuzzy ears and white tail and white jewels and markings and the tiniest, tiniest little bumps on his head where his horns would start sprouting just as he started losing baby teeth. Yixing figured, as a hybrid, the baby would hit puberty like a Shade if a bit late. Any female anatomy seemed doubtful to develop in later years. Perhaps the next child. Yixing did suspect there would be a second child in the next few years to come. He had seen how Jongin played with their son, how he held him in his arms and was reluctant to pass him to Luhan when he needed to feed. He was in love and it was precious even if Luhan complained Jongin loathed the child in the middle of the night when he was either bonding with his boyfriend or sleeping.

 

Yixing chuckled seeing his phone light up with a call and answered it. “Yes? Do you need someone to run to the store, Luhan?”

 

“No, no, I'm not really into women's clothing, but I got that covered if I need to run an errand with Taeyong. But, on that note, can you babysit next weekend. Jongin's getting real irritating at night and it has only been a month since Taeyong was born,” Luhan complained.

 

Yixing could hear the XDA fighting off his boyfriend and chuckled. “Of course. I've got a few weekends off in exchange for covering Junmyeon's honeymoon next month.”

 

“Thanks, also, drop me off some pizza tomorrow from Chen's,” Luhan said. “This guy here isn't going to be able to walk tomorrow if he doesn't stop bugging me.”

 

“Sure, will do,” Yixing said and hung up. He sighed and went back to looking at the dance floor on the first floor. He had come with Yifan and Minseok and Baekhyun, though the Bright Star had long since disappeared with one of the XDAs.

 

Baekhyun hadn't been seeing Jongdae as much in the past few months. Yixing still went to the pizzeria after it was remodeled and the owner never once forgot to ask if Baekhyun was doing well. Sometimes, Yixing caught a glimpse of confusion in Jongdae's eyes as if he knew there was something he was forgetting. For all he knew, there was. He had been told he was in an accident the first time and Yixing had had to tell Jongdae the accident was still affecting him now. Yixing wasn't sure how long they could both go before they were back in each other's arms. Maybe it was best if they didn't, but people didn't always do what was best for them.

 

Yifan and Minseok seemed to be good for each other. They were either lovey dovey, friendly, or arguing, sometimes all three. Minseok had delivered Luhan's child and had been even more irritable since. As an Earthling, he was jealous of Luhan's ability to give birth. He loved children, Yixing had known that. And Yifan had looked like an awkward father when Luhan had let him hold Taeyong with Jongin glaring at the Dracos over his shoulder. How long until they adopted? Kyungsoo said he and Junmyeon planned to adopt after they were married. It wouldn't be easy with South Korean laws and Kyungsoo wouldn't have the MIB's help anymore since he had officially been washed of those memories just before New Years. But, Junmyeon had a rich family and they could help. Yifan and Minseok could adopt from the SFPP. There were many Arbokian purebloods and hybrid children without parents either because of the fighting or because one Arbokian parent or another abandoned them.

 

Yixing turned away from the dance floor and pulled up more pictures on his phone. He smiled at the many baby pictures and the pictures he had taken of Luhan before and after giving birth. A month before that, he had taken a quick trip to China and left Kandy in Luhan's care. A puppy was a good exercise in taking care of a baby though Kandy was barely a puppy anymore. Still small, though. His father had worked in the morning, but the neighbor's two girls had taken a liking to him and the woman trusted him enough to take them to the park two blocks away so she could clean quietly. It was fun playing with children, Yixing thought. Apparently, his father also took the apartment children out sometimes. Since he was a police officer, more women trusted him with their kids especially after finding out his newly discovered son was a doctor.

 

Yixing liked children. If he dated a girl, he could have them. Yixing still wasn't sure if he could have them himself. Ja'an hadn't talked to him in months. Neither had Minhee. He had been getting his inhaler refills straight from the SFPP now that they had a full record on him without any secrets. He hadn't been using the inhalers as often, lately. The director had been right to force him to take a month's worth of vacation, but that was the end of summer. Winter was ending now.

 

Slipping his phone into a pocket of his tight slacks, Yixing turned back around to watch his friends dance. They weren't on the floor anymore and Yixing darted his eyes around not seeing them anywhere. Abandoned again. Yixing didn't understand why he even came to clubs when he always ended up leaving alone. No, that wasn't true, he use to leave with the occasional guy, but he always ended up home alone. Suddenly, Yixing caught sight of a black clad figure with sandy blond hair and piercings. Yixing's heart skipped a beat and he gripped the railings. There was no point was there? He started down to the first floor anyways. He could always just leave. The figure rounded a corner and Yixing followed them slowly then slower until he wasn't really following anyone at all. He was in the back hallways where couples tried to hide against the walls close to the bathrooms. Suddenly, there was a hand on Yixing's waist and someone leaning against his back, lips close to his neck.

 

“Hey there, looking for someone?” a voice asked.

 

Yixing slapped a hand over his neck and pulled away giving the stranger holding him a nasty look. They pulled away holding their hands up defensively and Yixing walked quickly out of the hallways and to the exit of the club.

 

It was cold outside, there was still a bit of snow on the ground, more falling from the sky. One of the last snows. Yixing felt them falling onto his hair and eyelashes. He wanted to walk home, but it was too far. He'd freeze. He walked a few blocks away before getting into a taxi.

 

Home was strange. It wasn't really home. Jongin had been living in a bachelor's pad, fancy, but not big enough for a lover and a child. Yixing had handed his old room over to be turned into a nursery while they considered which apartment would be better for a family to grow into. Yixing opened the door and was met by a ball of white fluff wagging its cotton fluff tail at him. Yixing reached down and picked up Kandy then walked down the hall and into the large open plan of the living room and kitchen space. There were so many large windows with a beautiful view of the city. Yixing dropped Kandy down into one of her many doggy beds and walked over to the bar to pour himself a glass of wine. He settled into one of the chairs by the window and looked out of it, breath fogging up the cold glass. Kandy padded over and jumped up onto the chair settling in Yixing's lap. Yixing took a sip of his wine then breath against the glass again. He lifted a finger and started to draw in the fog.

 

Zitao.

 

Yixing imagined Zitao would sit here, too, on silent nights with a glass of brandy or scotch as those had been the emptier of the liquors at the bar. When he was full of inspiration from nightlife, he would go into one of the spare bedrooms, the one with the keyboard piano and computer system. Yixing had learned Zitao’s hobby was music. Yixing liked to play out the cords strewn about Zitao’s desk. Yixing had been allowed a guitar as a birthday present and knew the basics of music. When Yixing played Zitao’s little melodies or looked through the photobooks of Zitao’s family, when he spent his off days watching the movies or reading the books in Zitao’s library, when he tried on Zitao’s clothes and jewelry, and curled up in his sheets, Yixing felt like Zitao was there with him. Not just the Zitao he had met six months ago, but more than that. There was so much to know about and most of it was just laying around his apartment.

 

Yixing sighed and laid his forehead against the glass. His phone beeped. Yixing was slow to pull it out of his pant pocket. A text from an unknown number, but Yixing could guess who it was.

 

**From Unknown:**

 

**Medic Lay. This is Agent Chanyeol.**

**The fighting has died down.**

**With the princess in our custody**

**there isn't much leverage the**

**rebels have over us.**

 

**Most of their operations have**

**been terminated. The next**

**queen has already been decided.**

 

**That is as much as I can give you.**

**Expect to be called in for medical**

**help in the next coming months**

**as the SFPP soldiers come home**

**as well as the promised agents.**

 

Promised agents.

 

Yixing put his wine glass down with his phone in favor of picking Kandy up and bringing her against his chest burying his face into her fur. This huge apartment wasn't Yixing's, but its owner belonged to Yixing. But it was only an apartment.

 

“Hear that, Kandy, your owner will be back. He promised.”

 

o     o

\  /

( ^ w ^)

 

“Get him up for an x-ray, stat. If he starts complaining, give him another dose of painkillers,” Yixing said as he directed residences in the ER.

 

“Yes, Dr. Zhang. What about the teenager?” one of the residence asked.

 

“Get Dr. Kim Minseok on it. They're not a child, but he'll be able to calm them down the most,” Yixing instructed and turned back to watch as more gurneys were pushed through the emergency room doors.

 

“Dr. Zhang, Dr. Zhang!”

 

Yixing turned to see Baekhyun pushing in one of the gurneys with a young man hooked up on it, another paramedic holding a mask to their face. They were out cold. “What do we have?”

 

“XDA presenting male with a kit,” Baekhyun said.

 

Yixing frowned. “Alright, take him to an examination room. I'll be in soon. Let me get the other patients situated.”

 

Baekhyun grabbed a few of the SFPP certified nurses and pushed the gurney into a exam room in the back of the ER. Yixing went to the last few gurneys and checked up on the other patients from a bus accident. Nothing seemed lethal, but there were definitely broken arms and legs. The driver of the bus had gotten the most of it ramming into a light pole instead of the other car. By the time Yixing got in to see the XDA, they were awake again. Baekhyun sat beside them, coaxing them while he helped get the last IVs in.

 

“Awake? What hurts?” Yixing asked.

 

“Everything,” the man said. He looked young, younger than Luhan. Perhaps he had reached sexual puberty sooner.

 

“How far along are you?” Yixing asked.

 

“I don't know what you're talking about?” the XDA said.

 

Yixing looked toward Baekhyun. “You said he had a kit.”

 

Baekhyun shrugged and lifted the patient's shirt to expose the rounded area of their stomach enhanced the swirling tattoo like markings and small gems. “Looks like a coming kit to me.”

 

Yixing sighed and pressed a hand to the patient's belly. “How far along?”

 

“Three months maybe,” the XDA said. “I don't know who the father is. They ran away to that Arbokian war.”

 

Arbokian war. Yixing paused as he inspected the XDA. “If you know where he went then you know who he is. He must have been a late goer if it has only been three months.”

 

“A medic,” the XDA said. “My leg hurts.”

 

“It's sprained,” Yixing said and lifted the XDA's head and felt the back. “Concussion and a sprained ankle. Do you remember hitting your stomach?”

 

“That's why I hit my head instead,” the XDA said.

 

Yixing nodded. “Alright, I'll tell Minseok to get him an X-ray and to check on the baby. Baekhyun, go back out and make sure everything's going according to plan. I'm suppose to stitch up the bus driver in thirty.”

 

Baekhyun left and Yixing pulled out a syringe and filled it with painkillers. “I'm going to numb you a bit, but not enough to sleep. Try not to fall asleep for the next few hours. We need a good look at that concussion.”

 

“He's Layan,” the XDA said. “Well, partially Layan, like you.”

 

Yixing grabbed the XDA's arm and wiped a clean spot before pushing the needle into one of the more visible veins. “Is it obvious?”

 

“What other alien species would become a doctor on Earth? He's half Dracos. Huge dicks those guys got,” the XDA said. Yixing could tell he was getting comfortable with the drugs now flowing through him.

 

“So I’ve seen,” Yixing said and checked the monitors. “I'll get a nurse in here to make sure you're staying awake.”

 

Thirty minutes later, Yixing was washing up from stitches. He could only thank luck that there hadn't been any serious surgery needed for the accident. It wouldn't be like this simple for the next month he was working without Kim Junmyeon at his side. It had already been a week and Yixing felt tired. He had been feeling tired more often now. Maybe it was because Kandy always woke him up every four hours for a walk or because she was lonely. Maybe it was because Yixing was lonely.

 

“Dr. Zhang!”

 

Yixing turned, a cut off groan of agitation on his lips. He didn't want anymore emergencies. “Y-yes?”

 

Baekhyun stood at the door to the washroom outside the surgery room grinning. “Director said you have to go home now. The next shift is already in and Minseok doesn't get off for a few more hours so he can cover up the last bit of it.”

 

“Oh, alright,” Yixing agreed. He was already doing overtime work covering most of Junmyeon's hours.

 

He followed Baekhyun to the changing rooms. The paramedic was already in normal clothing, but he hung about Yixing as he got dressed.

 

“Did you see Junmyeon's wedding pictures, yet? He posted them on social media already.”

 

“I saw them earlier,” Yixing said. It had been beautiful. An inside wedding in a cabin in the Rocky Mountains. Junmyeon had worn white and Kyungsoo wore black. There weren't many people. Both Kyungsoo's older brother and Junmyeon's older brother stood in as best men. Yixing knew they would be having a Korean ceremony after they returned from their honeymoon. They were releasing all of the pictures now so as to keep the media off the hospital since Junmyeon wouldn't be there.

 

“Too bad you couldn't be his best man. I know Junmyeon would have wanted it,” Baekhyun said.

 

“I'm fine with it. I've been traveling enough recently.”

 

“You found your birth father. But China's like three hours away on a plane,” Baekhyun said and waved Yixing off. “I would have gone, but it's hard for multiples of us to get the same time off.”

 

“Which is why the best thing for me to do is to cover his shifts. They do plan to move one of the residence to a higher position soon. Junmyeon's going to have to take over as director before he's forty at this rate. He'll probably get a raise here in a couple years,” Yixing said.

 

“We'll all celebrate that with him, or when he gets a kid,” Baekhyun said.

 

Yixing shut his locker and turned to see Baekhyun grinning at him. “What?”

 

“Come to the pizzeria with me, Yixing,” Baekhyun said. “I want pizza.”

 

Yixing rolled his eyes and sighed. “I'm tired, Baekhyun. I'm going to go outside and take a few drawls then go home. I'm not going to be in the mood for pizza. Go yourself. Jongdae misses talking to you.”

 

Baekhyun both frowned and flushed. “Alright. I won't force you to eat when you don't feel well. Wait until you get to the subway, though. That way you can sit down.”

 

Yixing agreed and and they split at the first light on their block.

 

It was spring, but still early enough to be cold. It was unlikely to snow, but it had been a rainy week and Yixing stepped in puddle after puddle as he made his way to the subway. He held his coat tight around his neck with one hand and the handle of his silver metal briefcase, nicked at one corner, in the other. In the early mornings, before the sun rose, the subway was mostly empty. Yixing checked the time for the next train closest to the apartment. He could have caught the morning bus, but it was a longer trip than the apartment he had shared with Luhan. He stood around outside the gate for a few minutes then pulled out his phone as it made a dinging sound. There were two unread texts. One was from Junmyeon gloating about how he was about to consummate his marriage and then an added picture of an embarrassed and glaring Kyungsoo staring into the phone, Junmyeon kissing him on the cheek as he took the picture. It made Yixing smile. His eyes lingered on the group of read messages at the top. He traced his finger around the bubble, accidently clicked it, but didn't read it. He didn't have to. He had read it plenty since it had been sent almost a month ago. It had been almost a month since anyone from the MIB had contacted him.

 

Yixing sniffed and stuffed his phone back in his pocket. It was too cold. He headed in the direction of the bathroom and dug in his pocket for his inhaler. If he missed the first train because he didn't feel well, that was fine. He'd rather spend those fifteen minutes in a bathroom anyways. He had the mouth of the inhaler to his own when he felt his other arm bump into someone just as he was rounding the corner to the bathroom.

 

“Oh, sorry,” Yixing said quickly. He sudden jostle had moved his glasses at an odd angle. He lifted the hand not holding his inhaler to his face to fix them. Once they were settled, he realized he had dropped his briefcase. He looked at his side, but didn't see it.

 

“Is this yours?”

 

It wasn't the man who had run into him, Yixing would have known that. He would have known had this person been any closer. Yixing turned. His eyes started at the hand stretched out towards him holding his briefcase. It was large and rough, finger nails trimmed, rings decorating every other finger. He followed a vein down the back of the hand to a wrist then an arm covered in the familiar black flowing fabric of a poncho. From there he saw wide shoulders then a tanned neck He saw thin lips curled up in a smirk, ears newly decorated with piercings, and a softness in dark eyes that had Yixing's heart racing. They were sorrowful, but excited. Apologizing, but holding back. Yixing didn't know if he had the eyes to express such emotion. He had words, and he had touch.

 

“Zitao,” Yixing said, voice breathless, and reached out for this briefcase.

 

“Dr. Zhang,” Zitao said and his smirk turned into a grin as he emptied the case back into Yixing's hand.

 

“You're back,” Yixing said.

 

“I promised I would be,” Zitao said. He walked closer, still grinning. He reached out and took the inhaler in Yixing's other hand. “Do you need this?”

 

“Not now,” Yixing said. He felt like he couldn't breath, but he could, he could breath so much better now.

 

Zitao moved in closer and slipped the inhaler back into Yixing's pocket and slipped into his personal space. Their height difference, which hadn't been much, seemed to have grown. Zitao’s face looked shrunken in and with a few more barely visible scars along his chin, but his shoulders looked wider. He had changed. But, his grin hadn't changed. No, no it had.

 

Zitao's hair tickled Yixing's glasses as he leaned in, breath mingling with Yixing's. “Will this do instead?”

 

Yixing could feel him, but he wasn't feeling him. Zitao wasn't here unless Yixing could touch him, not really. “No, it won't.”

 

“What about this?” Zitao lifted a hand and his fingertips barely grazed the line of Yixing's jaw.

 

“Not enough,” Yixing said. He could feel his eyelashes fluttering against his glasses lens. He had mushed them too far onto his face.

 

Zitao's grin fell and his fingers made full contact with Yixing's face, tilting the doctor's head slightly to the left as he leaned. “Then this?”

 

Yixing hadn't been kissed in half a year. That was a lie. Luhan had kissed him in a pregnant hysteria when he started going into labor, but that had been nothing more than platonic and to get Yixing to stop doctoring him and let Minseok work. And he had kissed Taeyong, but everyone had kissed Luhan's baby by its first full week. Kissing felt like this. No, kissing had never felt like this until now. Yixing's body felt as if it had been made of elastic bands pulled taut and the moment Zitao's lips met his, they had all come loose. It was a pain, but a sweet deep pain that gave him so much satisfaction when Zitao moved back then came back again. He moved to hold Yixing's face between both of his hands. They felt so rough. Yixing could only guess how much training and work they had done over the course of six months. How many of the expensive bottles of hand cream Yixing had found in Zitao's bathroom would the agent need to go through before they were even as soft as they were when they had first met. What about the piano in one of the spare bedrooms? Would Zitao play that for him when they got back to the apartment? Would he attempt to cook the long lists of recipes pinned to his refrigerator? Yixing had learned so much about Zitao just by living in his apartment. He had day dreamed curled up in the spacious living room every evening sipping wine. Yixing wanted to know what it would be like to live with his boyfriend.

 

Were they even boyfriends still?

 

Zitao pulled away still holding Yixing's face gently in his hands and placed his forehead against the others. “I'm back. They didn't want to let me go, I'm too good at my job.”

 

Yixing sighed. He could sympathize with that. “Zitao.” He lifted his empty hand to lay over one of Zitao's. “Kandy missed you.”

 

“I know, I saw her. I'm glad she remembers me. But, you weren't there. I came to surprise you.”

 

“You surprised me,” Yixing agreed and closed his eyes. “I...I missed you, too.”

 

“As did I,” Zitao said and moved his hands from Yixing's face to his neck. “I'm glad you waited.”

 

Yixing dropped his hand from Zitao's. “I said I would. I promised.”

 

Zitao's hands moved down to his shoulder then to his back and pulled Yixing flush against him, holding him tight. “I love you, Yixing. When I didn't need to clear my head, I thought of you. Even when I wasn't suppose to, you came into my mind. You're precious and I love you and I've only grown to want to love you more. I...I got updates. Sehun and Chanyeol, they still worked all over. They get bored. I'm sorry if they were troublesome.”

 

Yixing shook his head. “I didn't know that's what they were doing, but I knew they were around.” He lifted a hand and hugged Zitao back. “Your apartment doesn't smell like you anymore.”

 

“It smells like you,” Zitao said. “I could feel you there, but you weren't in it. I want to feel you there, Yixing. I want to love you there. Do you understand?”

 

Yixing did. But, did he want that? Zitao was someone Yixing was attracted to. He had not been willing to give Zitao up. He could have, but he'd lost that slip of paper weeks before it had come to mind just after Zitao had first left and Yixing was left to lay sleeplessly in his boyfriend’s bed. He had promised Zitao he would wait for him. And in that apartment, he had fallen in love with the Zitao he saw there combined with the Zitao he had known. Was it worth the risk to love him more?

 

Either way, Yixing knew Zitao deserved to be loved.

 

So, he would try.

 

“Y'all genis et g'all genis fi'et,” Yixing said softly against Zitao's neck.

 

“You said it again. You promised you would tell me what that meant,” Zitao said.

 

Yixing pulled away from the hug. “My genes are your genes, forever. That would be the literal translation.”

 

Zitao frowned, bottom lip jutting out. Yixing had forgotten Zitao could be cute. “I don't understand.”

 

“It's as close as a Layan can get to saying 'I love you',” Yixing said. “Usually, it is said before coitus.”

 

Zitao shook his head. “That doesn't sound romantic, but you're smiling. Why are you smiling at me, Zhang Yixing.”

 

Was he smiling? Yixing hadn't noticed. Maybe he really was tired, but he felt ridiculously happy. He felt Zitao lift a hand to his face and press a thumb into his dimple. It only made him smile more.

 

Everyone he loved was loved. Zitao was loved and he was loved by him.

  
“It means, I love you, Huang Zitao.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the End

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are Appreciated.


End file.
